


Pride

by KingdomsPath



Category: Naruto
Genre: Both Pre Shippuden, F/M, Multi, Non Four Member Team 7, Other Fandom Hints, Post-Naruto Time Skip | Naruto Shippuden, first fic, other pairings maybe - Freeform, see what happens, slight AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:55:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23757223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingdomsPath/pseuds/KingdomsPath
Summary: Waking in a world that you're unfamiliar with at least you have your name, right?This world is different and it's dangerous. At least the first person you meet will always make sure that no danger will come to you. Your journey is starting and everyone better believe that you are going to find out the truth of who you are and... what's that voice that keeps throwing it's two cents in every day?Reader Insert | Slight AU | Slow Updates
Relationships: Gaara (Naruto)/Reader, Nara Shikamaru/Reader, Senju Tobirama/Reader, Uchiha Itachi/Reader, Uchiha Izuna/Reader, Uchiha Madara/Reader, Uchiha Sasuke/Reader, Uzumaki Naruto/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 100





	1. Anomaly

**Author's Note:**

> First fanfic here! If my name is familiar I'm also on wattpad under the same name.  
> This fic will have some mixtures from other fandoms & game lores that I'm passionate about.  
> I'm looking forward to anyone who can pick out any fandoms eggs that I throw in there.

The dawn break of a new morning skimmed across the towering trees. Birds took flight for their day's beginnings as those who lurk in the shadows began their slumbers. Meanwhile, there were others continuing their journeys at day's first break. Humans in particularly started their days, some which journeyed on horseback or those with the ability leaping through the branches above the more traveled pathways. But for those seeking cover from pointed eyes and bounties, usually the roads less travel are the best ones to take. 

An older gentleman wearing dark travelers pants, dark green long sleeve and a sandy cloak covered nearly all identifying markings. White wisps of hair escaped from the hood and only glimmered when the sun managed to peek through the leaves from above. His journey had been ongoing for nearly a month and it would surely take him only a few more days to finally reach is the goal and if there was an agreement – sanctuary. 

He paused though and cocked his head ever so slightly in one direction. "You sure about that?" His voice was like gravel under the pressure of a cartwheel. He stuck his pinkie into his right ear and tweaked it around. "I don't sense anything." He continued with his one-sided conversation.

"Hm."

Jerking his head over his shoulder, no one was behind him and with is progress there was enough space between him and his pursuers. The wheels in his mind continued to crank as he followed imaginary directions to something deeper into the forest, slightly off of his path route. For a moment there was a break in the collection of trees where he was finally able to find the object of... desires? No, rather the disturbance in the 'force' as it had been put to him. Remaining in the cover of the trees he observed on.

Beneath a young tree was a young girl who leaned up against it. The young girl had [color] hair at [length], face serene and relaxed, slumbering beneath the young tree. Her clothes... were peculiar? For him at least. Never had he seen anything like that in his home country. 

"You're saying that this is the disturbance?"

Again with the one-sided conversation. He sighed and pulled back his hood to reveal long white hair in a thick braid, multiple scars across his face. Eyes like liquid gold glared at every dark shadow, daring anything to come out of the shadows. Heaving a sigh through his nose he finally took confident strides forward until kneeling in front. With the back of his hand, he felt her forehead.

No fever at least, small thanks to the Gods.

He prodded further with chakra into the young one's system and he became puzzled. "I see what you mean... but there's something else, you sense it?" There was silence in response but he grunted with whatever voice responded back. Pressing further he found the problem and released it. 

The moment that his hand pulled back he learned that this young girl had [color] eyes.

You ached all over and you had no idea why. It felt like you had been run over and the damn thing backed over you again for extra measure. 

Blinking the sleep out of your eyes you tried to focus on the bright light of the sun. The grass was green, but it was like that stupid lime green crayon that you were forced to use because someone stole the green green crayon. Your eyes focused more on black sandals and then you noticed that there was someone standing in front of you. You followed the legs to an older man crouching in front of you.

If you could, you would've thrown yourself further away. You hadn't been expecting an old man with plenty of scars on his face.

"W-Who are you!" You squeaked out, your hands threw back against the tree, nails digging into the young bark.

He stood up and scratched the back of his neck. Lips moving but nothing came out of it until he released a sigh, a heavy one that knew something. Slowly a smile appeared on his face and suddenly those scars didn't look all too intimidating. "My name is Hisashi, what's your name?"

 _Hisashi?_ You mumbled the word in your head because it was odd, odd for you that is. Something was off and it felt like it was a big red warning sign but you couldn't understand what it was. What were you trying to remember that was a warning? Was it a "stranger danger?" No, that's stupid. It was something else, something that was laughable honestly. You mulled over your thoughts as an onesided conversation was carried out in front of you, but your thoughts were loud enough for you to ignore it.

Finding footing underneath yourself, you stood up and pulled your head out of the cloud of thoughts. "A-Ah... my name? It-It's... [Name]." It was a terrible word vomit of a sentence but you stuttered over it. A name... [Name]. That's it right? Your name was [Name]. It had to be otherwise why would you say it?

Hisashi smiled and nodded his head. "That's a rather pretty name, [Name]. If you don't mind me asking, why are you just out here... sleeping?" He cocked his head to the side while watching your expression. He watched as it became confused and then scared. Huh. You didn't even know why you were out here? Hisashi could tell there wasn't anyone around so it wasn't like this was a trap for him. Hell, there wasn't anyone anywhere near this clearing.

"I don't know..." You whispered while inside you were terrified. Why couldn't you remember anything? It wasn't even like you could remember the last possible thing you were doing before being woken up. You looked at Hisashi in the eyes and felt like pleading with this stranger into telling you what's happening. Hisashi laid his hand on top of your head and ruffled your hair slightly. 

"C'mon kid, if I leave you here something not great will probably happen."

Hisashi had grilled you on possibly anything that he could think of.

Home? Nothing.

Parents? Don't know.

Pets? Your response was a shrug.

All the while the insistant voice in his head was telling him to ditch you like a load of rocks.

Gods if he made it to the village with you and tow, then there should be good karma coming his way at least. Not like the voice agreed with the concept of karma. "Don't worry kid, we'll figure it out."

The entire time that the two of you walked your eyes were watching the scenery. It was beautiful and peaceful but at the same time, you thought you were feeling eyes everywhere that you went. You rubbed your arms slowly and kept your eyes straight ahead. There was something about Hisashi that you felt safe with and knew that if there was danger then he would've known by now.

"So... um, Hisashi." Your guide gave you a simple hum of acknowledgment. "Where are you going?"

The walk continued with a few minutes of silence until the two of you came across a small creek. Hisashi pulled out his cantine and began to fill it with the clear water. As he was filling the cantine you were simply taking in the sights, there was something in the back of your mind that screamed this was weird but it was a weird familiar. Like a dream or a memory? Your thought bubbles were popped when a freshly filled cantine was put in your view.

Massaging his face Hisashi looked in a direction with his eyes squinted. "A village called Konoha. I've got some business there, sort of important."

But... with you in tow now there was a chance that wouldn't be possible. Goldeyes glanced at you and could sense the fatigue that your shoulders were carrying. It didn't help that you seemed to be suffering from amnesia. Constant thoughts of the unknown didn't help with the fatigue and would only lead to mental exhaustion. "Ah, don't forget its _Where are we_ going."

A blossom of warmth flowed from your chest at Hisashi's comment about it being the two of you going to Konoha. He could honestly ditch you here and now and say 'good luck!' and be done with you. But instead, he was showing an interest in your well being. The traveler refilled the cantine before the two of you took off again and it wouldn't be until the setting of the sun that the two of you would stop again.

Hisashi found a secluded part of the forest where the two of you could sit in front of a fire, you had watched in amazement as Hisashi made a series of hand movements and suddenly fire came out of his mouth! He had smirked when you gave a small gasp.

"What was that?" You whispered in awe while he dug around in a small knapsack and pulled out some minimal snacks for the two of you.

He laughed and threw you one of the bigger portions while he enjoyed a small bag of mixed nuts. The irritating voice was scolding him for giving away a precious energy source. "Minimal chakra direction into an element. Do you know anything about chakra?" Hisashi raised his brow in curiosity, sure anyone knew about--,

"Nope."

Goldeyes widened in surprise and for a moment he was speechless. Where in the world did you come from that you didn't know anything about chakra? Hisashi scratched his jaw, his stubble was coming in irritatingly so. "Well... this world is made up of an element called chakra. The trees have it, the ground has it, it's all around us. Humans can train in controlling chakra and using it to their advantage. Between my stamina and the chakra that I have inside, I was able to convert my chakra into the fire element."

Gods, if you had a notebook you'd be furiously writing it all down. Hisashi warmed at your interest, it was all over your face. "Can I do it?" You asked innocently.

He hummed in thought, wondering could you do it? During his exploration he could sense very little chakra in you at all, his voice called it a pitiful amount that couldn't even fill a shot glass. Hisashi dug back into his bag and found a piece of paper, looked like it was from a newspaper he had to ditch a week ago. "C'mere." He scooched back from the fire and spread his legs and pat the spot in front of him.

Side eyeing him for a minute you moved and sat with your back to him. Hisashi circled his arms around your shoulders and gave you to scrap paper. You tried focusing on the writing until he tapped your nose. "Focus kid." A little nervous you took a hold of the paper with both thumbs and index fingers. Hisashi put his hands on your wrists and told you to pay attention to a scrap of paper and feel.

Feel what?

Pay attention.

Scoffing with a pout you tried... you really did.

Sighing after five minutes you put your arms down and looked at the sky. "Can... _everyone_ use chakra?" You whimpered out sadly, it was really cool so of course you would be bummed in not being able to do anything. Hisashi sighed at your disappointment and even his voice could feel a bit of pity for your disappointment. "Not everyone, but it takes a long time to train even to do simple things."

Looking over your shoulder you looked at your protector and huffed. Opening your mouth to say something you weren't expecting the burning sensation on the tip of your fingers. "Hey!"

The scrap paper dropped to the ground with a slight clunk sound. With that interesting sound both you and Hisashi looked at it. White smoke was wafting from the scrap as it burned against the ground. It appeared stiff with a slight reflection of the campfire. Hisashi picked it up and could barely tolerate it himself before flinging it into the fire. In the fire, it hissed with displeasure until it melted and then burned to ash.

"So... what was that?"

Hisashi expected his fingers a bit before nibbling on his thumb to get rid of the stinging feeling. "Looked like ice to me, usually it's a four-element detection test. I don't remember the last time I saw _that_ happen."

Despite the interesting development you yawned loudly and obnoxiously. Rubbing your eyes, you felt a heaviness as a warm cloak wrapped around you. "Go to sleep kid, I'll wake you at dawn."

It didn't take long before you were sleeping with his knapsack as a pillow. Meanwhile, Hisashi was there in his thoughts and his intruding inner voice. "She's young... I know, I know. I've already got a backup plan." In front of Hisashi was a blank scroll that he was beginning to detail his thoughts onto. "You want to die? I didn't think so." Hisashi's whispered voice was so haughty with knowing.

At most he had a day and a half... two was pushing it but it would be a two and half-day ish journey to the village. If he attempted to use any chakra beyond what he did for the campfire they would zero on his ass like flies on shit. He couldn't do that, especially not with you around. You were an innocent civilian for right now. You deserved a normal life if he made it, and if he didn't... you deserved a fighting chance.

The next morning was the beginning and Hisashi didn't have the heart to wake you up, so instead, he maneuvered you onto his back and began the early morning journey that way.

 _You're growing_ _soft_.

It was morning by the time you woke up with that thought in your head, it was a sassy, sarcastic voice that had hot air behind it. You could feel Hisashi carrying you while the side of your face was pressed against his back. That voice was so distant like a whisper that you had to strain your ears for. "You know when I put you down, you're gonna have to carry me."

Pressing your face fully against his back, you were blushing terribly. You knew it would be so, _so_ dark. Hisashi was giving a hearty laugh.

It was probably noon when you finally asked him a question, walking beside Hisashi when he knew you had woken up. "Where are you from? You don't live in Konoha do you?"

Hisashi shook his head at your question. He was planning his backup and if that was the plan then you were gonna need a background on the important stuff. "I'm from a place called Land of Demons," His eyes picked up your scruntched face as you mouthed 'fake'. "It's just what foreigners call it, it's probably what you're going to hear it referred as is all."

Adjusting his knapsack, Hisashi continued his explaination. "There's a lot of little villages, the continent is huge. Sure we have some hub villages and one large city in the center. I'm from a village called _Ash'tella_ in our language. We have certain way of learning how to use chakra but we can learn the 'right way'." Hisashi created quotes when he said the right away and wanted to roll his eyes at it.

"What's Konoha like?"

Hisashi shrugged his shoulders and put his arms behind his head. "It's busy and a lot of people live there. I hear the village gets a lot of jobs, so their shinobi aren't usually idle for long."

His voice sassed him at mentioning shinobi. "Right... forgot that part."

You knitted your brows together when he talked to himself. Even when he thought you weren't paying attention you noticed him talking to himself a lot more than a normal person.. probably. 

"Shinobi are those who are trained in using chakra and often become ninjas, protecting their village and taking on different ranked missions as jobs." In the corner of his eyes, he noticed how your interest peaked again. Good. "Why, you want to become one?"

You were mulling the idea over in your head silently for a couple of minutes before nodding your head with a gigantic grin. "Can I?!"

He laughed with a grin of his own. "We'll see what the Hokage says."

Once again Hisashi continued his explanation into terms of the ninja world.

Hokage = Leader of Konoha.

Konoha was situated in a country called Land of Fire. there were other countries with different names, villages and leadership positions. You were soaking all of this up like a sponge and Hisashi couldn't have been prouder.

When it came time to stop and camp Hisashi mused to himself that you both were much closer to Konoha than he thought. At this rate, everything would work out and... no there was no use in getting himself worked up until the two of you were safely across the gates.

With being so close Hisashi didn't sleep that night. As the night grew closer to witching hour he knew that his back up plan would have to come into effect lest everyone perish. The scroll was put into the bottom of the knapsack and his cloak was clasped around your neck as you slept for a little while longer.

He went to work by biting his index finger and drew on the grass with his blood, creating an intricate design between himself and you.

For one last time, Hisashi conversed with himself until the voice got quieter and quieter. The design in the grass caught fire as it burned away in a lavender blaze, the secret technique was lost. Looking at you one last time Hisashi wondered is this what it felt to be a father? Or have a fatherly love for a child? He didn't get to experience that life with his troubles and responsibilities. But here in this new land... you would have more protection than he did at home.

You woke up to Hisashi shaking you from your dreams and immediately you felt sick. Something was weird, you felt super weird. You couldn't focus on that though when you saw Hisashi's face. There was a strictness to it. Your heart began to race and you felt intense fear.

"[Name] you need to listen to me, and follow _everything_ I say." His words were low and whispered but with force. Hisashi helped you stand and that's when you realized you were wearing all of his things. "I was traveling to Konoha for safety reasons... but now you need to go alone."

You sucked in a breath of shock and your eyes watered in fear. "Why aren't you coming with me?" You whimpered, clutching the sand-colored cloak closer to your body, suddenly feeling cold. His frown didn't make you feel better as he kneeled in front of you, rubbing your arms. 

"The people following me are dangerous and I need to distract them. You are a very special person [Name]. They're not after you but... know that this world is dangerous. They may learn of our connection and it can put you in danger." Hisashi's words were kind but they needed you to understand that there is a danger to come and to be strong. His calloused hand cupped your face and wiped away those tears. "Become a ninja [Name], you hear me? Become strong and powerful. Protect yourself and the people you'll love."

Deep in your heart, you knew this was goodbye for your old guardian. Yeah, you've only been traveling for a short time but he showed you better when you knew nothing and remembered nothing. You hugged the odd man tightly as a cold feeling in your heart welled up strongly as if you've known him your whole life... _no_ his whole life.

" **Go**."

That's when you ran in the direction that Hisashi pushed you in. 

You ran... and ran... and ran... faster and faster even though you felt like collapsing in dispare and fatigued already. There was a heaviness in the air and it wasn't because of the fear in your mind. At one moment you stopped running to catch your breath despite this weird feeling in your head screaming to run... **RUN**. A whimper escaped your lips in pain at this feeling in your head. It pulsed like a raging storm.

Collapsing against a tree you slid down to the ground clutching your head. You gasped sharply when suddenly you saw something... something not through your eyes.

_You saw three figures standing in a clearing bathed beneath the same moon above you. Two were men and one was a woman. All three were wearing masks with odd designs carved into. The masks themselves were black like darkness... but darker than that. Their masks designs were created out of delicate and odd designs. Their body language screamed threat and danger. You couldn't tell what else they were wearing beyond dirty mucked up cloaks like the one Hisashi was wearing._

_The woman approached as your view changed into a defensive position. You felt sick realizing you were seeing this through Hisashi's eyes._

_"Why aren't you running Hisashi? Are you finally willing to give up?" The woman's voice was sickly sweet and charming, her head tilted slightly in mock. Her mask didn't have any holes for eyes or a mouth but it carried on the breeze like she was in your ear. That's when you noticed a glint under the moonlight of a weapon beneath the cloak._

_The two men behind her ... it felt like they exchanged looks that only they knew about and you wanted to vomit._

_Hisashi chuckled and pulled weapons out of what felt like nowhere. "Oh I just missed your face is all."_

_There was snarling sound and in a blink of an eye, there was a bloodbath._

_Hisashi and his enemies fought furiously, moving faster than you could have kept up with. It felt as if Hisashi had the upper hand until you felt something. There was a connection, a warm one that reminded you of a new dawn or a campfire. In a moment you and Hisashi felt each other._

_Then there was pain, both you and Hisashi cried out at once. In the vision, you saw a blade protruding from his abonmen. It was the woman's blade._

_Her voice was like a viper's hiss. "Oh, sweet Hisashi... what did you do with it? You didn't go and free it..."_

_There was a choking laugh filled with blood as it sputtered out and dripped on the ground. You felt the searing pain of the blade, but without the actual infliction. "It is free.... as free as I wished I could have been."_

_She snarled and twisted the blade and you screamed at the darkness. You didn't like this darkness._

It was dawn... it was beginning of a new day and somewhere there was death but now here. Here was something new beginning. 

"Do you sense that?" A lazy body becoming rigid as it stepped out of a box. Looking inward it saw nothing but the pathways leading into the village and turned, and froze. "Kotetsu!" The voice hissed loudly while keeping eyes on the thing in front of him. Another body joined outside of the box and saw the same thing that his partner saw.

Standing ... or barely able stood a young girl with [Colour] hair in disarray. [Color] eyes are bloodshot and half-closed. Tear marks down her face.

You looked up and saw two new strangers, unable to remember when you got here. All you could feel was sadness and loss in your soul, you felt more lost in this world than before now without Hisashi.

Trembling lips parted before you lost your self to fatigue.

" _He's gone..._ "


	2. A New Home

You continued to dream of Hisashi's last moments over and over again. The same nightmare even if you were able to interfer.. it was still the same result. For some reason though you always could feel the woman's eyes burn holes into your body as if she could see you there weeping over the old man's body. But there was something else, it felt protective and sinister. If this woman was truly able to see you, there was nothing that she could do with this unknown deity being your new guardian.

Those nightmares were the only thing that kept you company in whatever comatose state that you were in. No new memories came to you, only the reassuring nightmares.

At one point, they did stop.

Standing there in the darkness you still felt Hisashi's cloak and knapsack against your body, you pulled his cloak closer to you in some type of effort to keep warm. Even if you weren't even cold. Looking around and even behind it was all the same pitch-black darkness. Sighing sadly you picked a random direction and continued onward, unsure of what you were going to find if you were going to find anything that is.

It felt like forever walking in the darkness, there wasn't even any sound beyond your breathing. Eventually, it came in very slowly, little bits of color until you felt grass beneath your feet. Trees bled into the scenery and so did light. You looked around in curiosity and even looked behind you. Behind it was like the darkness never existed.

You were in a vivid green forest, a very dense one at that. Despite it being dense there was light shining bright above the treeline beating down through the leaves. It cast a greenish glow creating an even more mystical environment. Walking forward the grass slowly turned into stone and then a stone pathway that leads to a small clearing of the trees where the sunbathed a stone statue.

The stone statue was that of a canine creature in a resting position. Front legs laid out in front while it's hind were slightly underneath the body. The tail was wrapped around the front of its body nearly hiding the hind legs and feet. The facial features were void of any type of emotion that the canine may be wearing, but you could've sworn that there was a possibility that the stone eyes were looking at you despite it looking off in the distance from where you walked from.

The setting was serene and calming, but it felt holy and special. That you should feel honored to be allowed to enter into this place. Walking up to the statue you noticed that there were vines and leaves covering something. Pushing them apart you saw that at one point there was writing but it has since faded away, it caused you to, frown.

_Snap._

Heart racing you immediately went to turn to see -

* * *

You awoke to gasp for air and coughing in the same motion, sitting up in a bed you continued to hack up what felt like a part of your lung. In the background of your coughing fit you hear a door slide open and then a hand on your hunched over back.

"Drink this, careful now." 

The voice handed over a small paper cup that was filled with water which you took greedily, your throat was on fire and felt rough. After finishing the cup you rubbed your face slowly trying to find the feeling in it. The darkness was strange and made you feel woozy and uneven although you were sitting in bed. You turned to find a young woman with braided black hair and kind hazel eyes looking at you.

She pressed the back of her hand to your forehead and hummed happily. "Your fever has finally broken, we were really worried about you."

Even though that's a good thing you felt yourself blushing at the attention that you were receiving. People were worried about you? Someone they've never met before? You mumbled a soft thank you while fiddling with the bed's blanket. The woman grinned before standing from the bed and picking up a chart from the end of the bed. She continued to hum a tune that was unfamiliar to you.

At that moment you took in your surroundings, you were in a white room with the singular bed, a dresser, and a nightstand with a vase that lacked any flowers. It took a minute before you noticed the smell that ticked off the sign of a doctor's... or a hospital. You felt frustration, you knew the smell that indicated hospital but nothing else? How annoying!

"How are you feeling [Name]? You were in pretty bad shape when you were brought in." Her voice was gentle as possible, her hazel eyes flickering to your [color] ones trying to source out any type of worry.

Swallowing a lump in your throat you knitted your brows at hearing your name. You hadn't introduced yourself so... Sensing this she pressed the clipboard to her lips and tried to stifle a laugh. "Sorry, Lord Hokage gave us as much information as we could. You had so little we needed to know anything about you." Dumbly you nodded your head and rolled your shoulders in an attempt to relieve some pressure.

A group of pigeons flew in front of the window which directed your attention to the outside world forgetting the nurse's question. Slowly leaving the bed the cool floor felt soothing on your feet, you didn't realize how hot they were feeling.

Outside of the hospital was a whole new world for you. Eyes widening in the sight of a large expanding village with different buildings, some short and some tall. Your nurse smiled from behind her clipboard watching your expressions through the reflection of the window. Taking at the moment also leads to a rather loud sound, the sound coming from your stomach. Your face flushed red with embarrassment.

"Oh, dear." The nurse giggled with a grin and tapped the board against her chin softly before an idea came to her. "I'll be right back." With that, she exited the room quietly while you looked on questioningly. Giving little thought you looked back at the window and noticed a mountain in the back of the village. In the mountain were faced carved into the stone.

"That's amazing..."

Your attention was brought back at the sound of the door sliding open and the nurse standing there with a stack of clothes. She walked over to the bed and laid them out neatly, her eyes looking at every piece carefully. "I gathered some clothes that were donated to us, I'm not sure what you like." She scratched her cheek softly and smiled with a mother's smile. "Pick what you like. Normally we don't do this," Her voice became low into a whisper and signaled for you to come closer, carefully you did so. "We gotta get you walking so. How about I take you out for some food?"

There was no need to answer because your stomach decided for you.

She laughed and made her way for the door but you called out for her attention. "I-I'm sorry... What's your name?" You questioned hesitantly unsure how the decorum was here for an introduction. That's when you noticed her blushing embarrassingly. 

"Oh my, I'm so sorry. My name is Fuuka Sarutobi. I'll be right outside dear."

With that, you were left in the hospital room with a wide selection of clothes. Some were too large or too small for you. You felt thankful the minute that you found a set of clothes though not from the same 'collection', they matched well together. Discarding the hospital clothes for something new that also smelled fresh laundry, they fit well enough as much as second-hand clothes can.

Opening the door to the hall there were many other doors some of which were open or closed. Nurses walked past in their uniforms or speaking with doctors. Fuuka stood outside in the hall speaking with a strange-looking individual. They wore a white mask that looked like it was meant to be some type of animal, but you weren't sure. There was a breastplate that covered his front and back with arm guards on the back of his forearms. His pants were black that looked as if they had many different pockets and he was wearing the same sandals that Hisashi... and Fuuka was wearing.

Fuuka noticing your exit finished her conversation with the individual both separating. The stranger turned his attention to you before disappearing as you blinked. That's when you noticed Fuuka wasn't wearing a nurse's uniform. Fuuka was wearing a long emerald-colored kimono with a pastel pink shirt peeking out. She wore khaki-colored shorts that went to just above her knees with a pair of blue sandals.

As she guided the two of you out of the hospital no one seemed to pay too much mind with the fact that you were out and about instead of being stuck in that stuffy hospital room. AS you stepped out of the hospital the sun gave you a warm chill down your spine and it felt nice. Fuuka lead you around and pointed out things that would get your attention and make you excited. Her laughter was only at the sight of you enjoying things that people in the village take for granted. 

"Oh, Iruka! Funny to see you here." Fuuka remarked in front of a stand at the sight of seeing a dark-skinned man who had a scar going across the bridge of his nose. Iruka looked surprised at the sight of Fuuka and then noticed you standing slightly behind her. 

Rubbing the back of his head, Iruka smiled. "I'm here with Naruto. So not too much of a surprise." His warm brown eyes glanced in your direction, you wanted to hide behind Fuuka in worry but... they seemed to know each other well enough so he's probably not a bad person right? "Who is this?"

You felt Fuuka's eyes on you, oh.. so you were to do this yourself? Smiling politely you stood in front of Fuuka. "My name is [Name], it's nice to meet you!" A sense of calmness came over you after your introduction. You can do this, it isn't like everyone knows your memory loss. There's no need to be _so_ nervous all the time.

"Iruka sensei! Hurry up!"

Coming from inside the food stall was a loud boisterous voice. From behind you slightly heard Fuuka laugh with the name _Naruto_ coming up. Walking inside you saw a boy around your age wearing a lot of orange, with blond hair and green goggles on his head. Turning his attention toward you, assuming you were 'Iruka sensei', he looked stunned at seeing you there instead. 

Smiling with a small wave you were rather casual. "Hey." At that moment you noticed that he had three whisker-like markings on each of his cheeks. Oh.. he sure did have some super blue eyes! You watched him suddenly erupt with a blush on his face, he then tried to fix his goggles as an attempt to distract himself. "Do you mind if I sit here?" You gestured toward the stool to his left.

"Uh, no go ahead." Damn was his voice squeaky? Why was it so squeaky right now?! The blond was side-eyeing you ever so slightly. You were pretty and well... probably the only girl the same age as him who even said hello with a smile. Like, _no one_ does that to him! "What's your name? I don't think I ever saw you before."

It was your turn to blush slightly, ever so light pink on your cheeks. "Ah, my name is [Name]. I sort of just arrived here. What's your name?" Oh boy, you were in for it.

The blond's face broke into a large grin as he puffed out his chest. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I'm going to be the next Hokage and you _better_ believe it!" With such enthusiasm, you couldn't help but smile in response. Naruto punched the air in excitement just as a closed fist belonging to Iruka came down on his head.

"Don't yell in the face of a lady!" 

"Sorry sensei..."

Fuuka took the seat to your left as Iruka took the seat to Naruto's right, her laugh was completely innocent at the sight before her. It was obvious that you were much more comfortable when in the presence of another who was your age. Her heart did warm at the sight of Naruto of all people being able to talk with another kid the same age.

Each of you put in your order of ramen, though you got help from Fuuka on what you might like. Naruto leaned on the counter to get your attention with his question. "So... are you uh, in a different class at the Academy? Or... are you not going to be a ninja?" Behind Naruto, Iruka sighed and rubbed his face in exhaustion, there goes Naruto with his impolite questioning of new people.

You blinked your [color] eyes and adjusted yourself on the seat. "Academy? Ninjas train at Academies?" Instead of putting the question in Naruto's court, you looked at Fuuka. Who nodded her head.

"[Name] here is from a faraway country. Ninjas, there are different than here and usually are taught individually versus in a classroom Naruto." The blond made a small o-shape with his mouth with the explanation. You were surprised by Fuuka's response, what did she know about you? You didn't even know yourself that well at all but here she was spitting out... truths? You did think back to Hisashi though, he explained the Land of Demons... maybe that's what she's talking about?

Keeping your attention to Fuuka you asked a rather difficult question next. "Could I go to the academy to become a ninja... ?"

Naruto felt excitement at the thought of you coming to the academy. He'd actually have someone who well... might like him as a friend there! "Iruka sensei! Can't [Name] come to class tomorrow!" Naruto turned his excitement to his sensei, you turned your attention as well causing the teacher to become slightly nervous. Fuuka felt her words stumbling in her mouth without sound at this questioning, she hadn't been expecting you to suddenly ask it. Sure the Lord Hokage was trying to toy with the idea but nothing solid had been figured out yet!

Poor Iruka....

"Uh, well Naruto... our graduation date is set for next month. There's a lot for [Name] to learn..." Iruka adjusted his headband as a nervous reaction to the questioning and young set of excited eyes on him. Iruka's eyes were pleading at Fuuka's still scattered expression. The woman rubbed her forehead before mouthing a couple of words. Iruka put on a look of confidence in an attempt to keep his authority complete. "But there no harm if [Name] sits in on a few classes."

The two of you were filled with excitement at the agreement. Naruto was stuck between enjoying his ramen and trying to explain everything to you when the food came. Iruka and Fuuka shared a slightly nervous look between themselves and stepped out of the food stall momentarily.

"I don't know Naruto... do you think I'll catch up?" You fiddled with your chopsticks with nervous energy. Ever since Hisashi explained ninjas to you, you wanted to become one even if that dream and idea was short-lived. But from what Naruto was saying it sounded extremely complicated and he had so many more years of practice versus you.

Slurping loudly and without care, Naruto was mumbling something with his food in his mouth. The chef from the other side of the counter reminded the young one to chew and swallow before talking. "I'll help you out [Name], believe it!" You weren't quite sure about Naruto's intensity but you appreciated it a lot considering how things were going.

Fuuka and Iruka stepped back in with a content look on their face. "Ah, my apologies may I have this in a to-go container?" She eyed your bowl and was glad at least you got to finish your food. "You and I have a meeting with Lord Hokage."

You felt nervous at the thought of meeting the leader of the village. Hisashi said that whoever is elected Hokage is an extremely strong ninja! Naruto had a sad look on his face compared to your nervous one. "Ah... will I see you tomorrow [Name]?" To be quite honest Naruto really didn't want to let go of his new friend all that soon.

Standing from the stool as Fuuka received her food and paid the bill, you smiled at Naruto and gave a thumbs-up before following after Fuuka. Naruto made sure to wave erratically. 

It took a ten-minute walk to a large building that had other kids around your age in front of meeting up with their parents or talking amongst themselves. There were also older teens and adults coming and going through a different entrance. Keeping close to Fuuka you could sense some of those around your age giving you looks, and then the whispers began. Walking up a set of stairs and then into a wide large room.

There was a long table with three different people sitting at it, but in the center was an old man, older than Hisashi, wearing a red and white formal attire. "Lord Hokage! I've brought you an early dinner."

Attention was now on you and Fuuka, despite talking formally you could sense there was a casual edge to her tone. The center figure smiled beneath his hat, with a nod of his head the two flanking him got up and left the room without making as much as a sound. Fuuka approached the Hokage with a breeze before setting down the to-go container from the ramen stall and a set of utensils. 

The Hokage turned his gaze on your thirteen-year-old self, he smiled ever so slightly at your interest of the room. "You must be [Name], your father wrote quite a bit about you."

Well, that caught you off guard.

Now your attention was solely on the Hokage you approached the table that he was sitting at. That's when you noticed a scroll beside him along with Hisashi's knapsack. You wanted to question what did he mean by father but there was this nagging voice in the depths of your mind that told you to shut it.

Hiruzen once again read the beginning of the scroll quickly before looking at you. You stood before him and all that he could sense was a good genuine aura. He liked to believe he had a good sense of the character of people. There was something telling him that you had a good heart and a sense of just. Deep down, without voicing it, he believed that you - someone who was never born here - could have the Will of Fire all on your own.

"[Name] Hisashi, you and your father traveled here to seek asylum from dangers that you faced in your home village."

 _Nod you, idiot_.

Despite a rather bossy voice coming from nowhere you nodded your head and allowed for the Hokage to continue. Hiruzen took a few puffs from his pipe before releasing the smoke through his nose. "My condolences for the loss of your father. We were unable to find his body anywhere near the village."

That struck you. Hisashi must've written to the Hokage that you were his child versus announcing you were some random child he found in the woods. Sure he wasn't your father, but you felt the loss and it showed on your face. You picked at the hem of your shirt with a frown on your face. "All that he told me to do was run..."

Fuuka laid her hand on your shoulder and gave a squeeze. "And you made it here [Name]. At least you're safe."

Hiruzen nodded his head in agreement. "I cannot turn away a child with nowhere else to go, with no family known. The sanctuary you seek is approved." Hiruzen felt slightly sad at the look at your face. Surprise, did you believe that they would throw you form the village? What has happened on your journey here?

"Ah... Lord Hokage? I don't have any.. uh. money.." You sheepishly admitted, you were glad that you could stay here but where would you go? It wasn't like Hisashi told you to go somewhere and stay with someone. You glanced to see the Hokage waving his hand in the air flippantly.

"You'll be placed in housing and be given a stipend for food and supplies. Once you pass your exams you'll be able to earn a wage for living." Hiruzen watched with a small amount of glee as the words computed in your brain before a grin slowly broke across your face.

"Exam? Do you mean I can become a ninja?" Wow, no wonder Naruto was so excited earlier. The idea of being a ninja is a rush! The Hokage nodded and you couldn't help but squeal in excitement. Fuuka laughed happily at your excitement and sent a knowing smile towards the Hokage and mouthing 'Thank you.'

"From what I understand, you and your father both wished for you to become a ninja. I would say this is fair trade-in regard for your housing, hm?"

You nodded quickly, probably almost giving yourself whiplash. You continued to thank the Hokage the entire time and received Hisashi's knapsack before Fuuka told you that she'd be bringing you to your new home. You were excited the entire way to your new home and thoughts constantly were racing, at one point you thought you could hear an audible groan in your head at these thoughts but figured it was someone passing by.

Fuuka brought you to an apartment building and the two of you traveled up serval flights of steps before coming to a door that had a small nameplate that had **Hisashi** written on it. There was a quiet _jingle_ before you noticed that Fuuka was handing over a set of keys. With nervous hands, you opened the door and felt along the wall for a light switch.

Turning it on you were welcomed to the sight of a decent sized studio. There was a kitchenette with a fridge, stove, and oven with a nice amount of counter space and cabinets. Table with two chairs. Underneath one of the window was the bed giving you a nice view of the village. There was a dresser, bookshelf, and a closet. Opening a door you saw that you had a nice bathroom at least, it was clean.

Fuuka's voice caught you from your appreciation of the room. "There's a fresh set of clothes in the dresser and some minimal food in the kitchen. Tomorrow after class we'll get you more clothes, food, and a couple of things to give with place life."

In a flash, you were hugging the woman and thanking her over and over again. She laughed with joy and gave you a squeeze back. "I'll stop by tomorrow morning to bring you to the Academy. Don't stay up late."

With that, you were left alone and noticed how dark it had gotten. Sighing softly you didn't care for this alone feeling and being isolated. There was very little for you to explore and figure out in such a small room. There was a set of plates, bowls, utensils in the kitchen. Cereal and fresh milk in the fridge. The closet was empty and there was a fresh set of clothes on top of the dresser. In the bathroom, there was cheap toothpaste, toothbrush, some shower items, and a hairbrush.

It wasn't long before you felt exhausted and turned in to bed. Pulling the cover over it felt nice to be in a bed versus the hard ground. You did frown though, remembering the Hokage mention that they couldn't find your 'father's body'. That sense of dread was the emotion that carried you into sleep.

That night you didn't dream of his death but rather a dance between a wolf and a fox.


	3. Hyugas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When it comes to jutsu's handsigns, I'll do my best to find them and put them in. I just can't find the one for kai/release (from genjutsus), the closet I've come to find what it might be is the Seal of Confrontation?

By the time Fuuka had knocked on your door the following morning, you were already prepared to start the day with an excited smile.

"Uh, mom, who's this?"

Meanwhile, on the other hand, you hadn't been expecting for Fuuka to have an additional person with her. Standing beside Fuuka was a younger kid wearing a white helmet with some stickers, a tooth gap, and a long blue scarf as the most noticeable thing about him. He seemed to be a prickly kid given the fact that his eyes were narrowed into a glare in your direction. If you already didn't have a chill, surely this would've given you a shiver down your spine. But instead, you raised a [color] brow in his direction.

Fuuka turned to the young boy and pressed the tips of her fingers to her forehead and released a sign that seemed to have been building. "This is [Name], Konohamaru. Your grandfather asked for me to assist her in getting settled." Even if Fuuka was frustrated or tired, she was patient and calm with talking to Konohamaru. The little gears in his head turned before he seemed to settle ever so slightly when he uncrossed his arms. With sensing that her son had accepted this Fuuka turned back to you before handing off one box wrapped up in a flowered handkerchief. "I made you lunch for today since I'm sure there weren't many lunch materials in there.."

Grateful you accepted the box with a polite thank you before leaving your new apartment with Fuuka and her son.

During the walk you could always feel Konohamaru's eyes on you, always narrowed. Swallowing you looked at him with a small smile. Of course given the attention the kid turned his face forward with a dusting of pink on his cheeks. "So are you in the Academy as well?" You questioned the younger one who quickly made a scoffing sound.

"If I wasn't why would I be here?"

"Konohamaru! Manners."

The young ninja to be quickly sped off ahead as the academy building came up faster than you expected. You froze right before entering the yard of the academy, your nerves suddenly bursting with life. Could you do this? The only thing that you've done is turn that piece of scrap paper into ice, _dry ice_. Your mind was racing that you almost registered too late when you felt a small bump in your shoulder.

"Sorry!" You blurted out, but was it your fault, or was it this other person? Turning your attention to whomever accidentally bumped you, you saw a girl your age with dark hair with a slight blue twinge, cut rather short. You were more caught off guard by her eyes, they were pupil-less and completely white. Though they were odd, they were also rather pretty. 

"A-Ah, I'm-I'm so sorry!" Boy, that poor girl would blush darkly over a simple accident.

You shook your head and frowned slightly while rubbing your neck. "It's my fault, I froze up and blocked traffic." With your verbal note, you moved to lean against the fence. That's the only thing that your nerves were letting you do. 

The other girl found herself breathing even and registered your words. "Are you a new student here?" You smiled and nodded your head, which in turn caused her to smile ever so slightly. Shyly the girl began to fiddle with her two index fingers. "My-my name is Hinata H-Hyuga... which class are yo-you in?"

Standing up a bit straighter on the fence and with a breath of fresh air, you told Hinata that you were supposed to be in Iruka's class. To which you saw her smile and respond that you two would be in the same class. Seeing through you don't have much of a choice you followed Hinata into the academy under peaceful silence. The halls were slightly abuzz with students greeting each other and trying to get ready for the day.

At the end of the hall, you noticed Fuuka and Iruka talking with each other. Turning to Hinata you thanked her before waiting beside Fuuka to see what you needed to do.

Thankfully their conversation had finished when you and Hinata walked up. The shy student entered the classroom but glanced over her shoulder to see that you were going to be okay. 

Iruka placed his hands on his hips and turned his attention to you. "All ready for your first day? If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask me." Honestly, you felt so lucky to have a teacher like Iruka, likable, and easy. You nodded your head and felt prepared for the day even if those nerves of yours were still burning hot. Fuuka told you that she'd see you at the end of the day before taking off, much like that strange individual yesterday - gone in a blink of an eye.

You followed Iruka into the classroom and stood by the door and took a look around the room. The room and the desks were set up in tiers going up back. It was mostly two students to a desk yet some were squeezing together. When you noticed Hinata you shot your peer a dazzling smile to which she returned happily although hers was much smaller. There were others you didn't know, you frowned when noticing that Naruto wasn't in the room. Didn't the two of you share the same class?

Everyone seemed like they knew each other, they were talking amongst each other while suddenly giving you a couple of weird looks. You grimaced slightly, you were the new student after all. You saw one student sleeping in the back of the room, another eating... and one of them had a dog! However, you quickly noticed a small swarm of girls around one boy who was sitting by the window. A brooding boy with short spikey black hair who was very disinterested in everything that was going on around him. He did though glance in your direction, the two of you holding eye contact for a little while before Iruka cleared his throat, gaining the attention of all the students.

Arms crossed, "Today we have a new student, now we're a month away from our graduation exam. I would appreciate anyone who helps her get caught up with the material." Iruka turned his head ever so slightly to you, with that you walked and stood slightly beside Iruka and looked once again across the room.

A lot of those girls found seats elsewhere, but alas, there was a girl with long blond hair and a girl with long pink hair attempted to steal the seat beside the broody guy. Opening your mouth and slightly stuttering, caught off guard at that scene. "My name is [Name] Hisashi," Liar, you had no idea what your last name was. But what were you to do? "I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone!" Maybe flashing a smile would help your nerves?

Not really...

After finishing those two girls you had been watching both found themselves on the ground. "Ah! Forehead what the hell?" "Shut it Ino-Pig!"

Everyone else appeared to be used to this display, but with it being your first day you stood there perplexed. These two were meant to become ninjas? Have those sworn to protect their village? Iruka felt his blood pressure rising and it was only the first five minutes. "Sakura, Ino! Please find separate places to sit today," Iruka felt his head fall limply into his hand and innocently waved his free hand in that direction. "[Name], can you please sit next to Sasuke for the day?"

Gods, why did it suddenly feel like you were public enemy number one?

Taking a seat beside Sasuke with enough room between the two of you, it was a little difficult being comfortable when you noticed a lot of eyes glaring at you. Especially those belonging to Ino and Sakura from the back of the classroom. Just as Iruka was about to begin the day there was a loud rumbling sound before the classroom door slid open with a snap.

"I overslept! I'm sorry Iruka sensei!" Naruto managed to squeeze out in between the huffing and puffing of running through the academy. You watched as Iruka smoothly threw the chalkboard eraser at Naruto's head, his face was more than irritated. Probably because of Ino and Sakura... now, this. Though you couldn't help but feel bad for Naruto. "You can't keep being late Naruto! Just find a seat so we can begin." Iruka huffed disapprovingly.

Naruto scanned the room with those excited blue eyes and became ecstatic to see you, but even less so when realizing that you were sitting beside Sasuke of all people. You smiled at him excitedly and gave a small wave, to which the hyperactive student found himself blushing while trying to find a seat, right in the middle row of desks.

Iruka finally was able to begin the day. The day's lesson was a review for a type of ninjutsu called genjutsu, the art of creating illusions, determining whether you were captured and how to release one's self from within one. Though all the other students appeared to be disinterested in the subject, you were rather interested in hearing what Iruka had to say about the subject. A genjutsu is created when a ninja controls the chakra flow of a target's cerebral nervous system, thereby affecting their five senses, though the victim could disrupt their chakra flow if they can recognize if they're under a genjutsu. 

"The command for releasing your self with _Release_ , along with creating these hand signs," Iruka went on to show the hand signs, which you attempted to intimidate. You heard a snorting sound and turned your head ever so slightly to look at Sasuke. The said student simply raised a brow with minor glare in your direction.

_What trivial drivel..._

The voice in your head was so clear cut and haughty, disregarding all that Iruka had shown and explained. You knitted your brows together and attempted to prob your mind in curiosity. Your vision slowly became like a tunnel, you were focused on Iruka but around him was darkness. In that darkness, you were hoping to find something that could've made that sound.

_Focus, idiot!_

The sound was loud as if someone was directly in your ear and it caused you to jump and hit your knee underneath the desk. You held in a whimper while holding onto the offending body part and focused on Iruka's lesson. Of which he was about to send everyone into a genjutsu for those to practice. With a series of hand seals, there was a small buzz in the air but nothing happened. You just stared at the sensei in confusion, even though some of the students appeared to be fazed. Iruka's gaze scanned the classroom until he landed on you, raising a brow when noticing you didn't seem fazed. You shrugged in response, Iruka made a note of it.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was able to release himself quickly and became interested in your lack of response. He had heard you hit your knee underneath the table but that wouldn't be enough for you to escape a jonin level genjutsu. His dark onyx eyes narrowed in contempt, he didn't who you were and where the hell you came from but there was something off about you. But for some gods awful reason, he thought that he had heard of your name.. or the name combination at one point. Tch. Why does your existence already annoy him... but also making him interested?

Following Iruka's genjutsu rehash, that's when the educator stepped into the realms of other subjects such as math. That's... where you found your interest slowly leaving.

The day continued with a different type of lessons that while seemed unimportant you did notice that they would apply to the knowledge that would be needed as a ninja. You were, of course, more interested in the knowledge that had direct connections but came to understand arts such as deciphering. 

"All right, lunch then we're going to be practicing taijutsu outside."

The next thing you knew there was a crowd of girls at your desk with death glares stabbing into you. Immediately you raised your hands in defense while gathering Fuuka's lunch and stepping out of the ring of fire. You held your breath until you reached the back of the classroom, releasing it as you slid down the wall. Gods, what hell is this?

"Seems like you picked the wrong seat." A voice called out with a bit of snark followed by the sound of munching sounds. Turning your head in the direction you saw a rather plump looking boy with two red swirls on his cheeks. A sigh came from beside him when a boy with pulled-back black hair decided to sit up and notice you along the wall. 

Huffing a bit and opening the lunch that Fuuka packed you, you snipped back. "Not like I had a choice, ya know. Who is that anyway?" You along with the two boys watched as your desk-mate walked out of the room, the girls tailing him. With response to your question the student you saw earlier with the dog laughed loudly.

"You don't know Sasuke _Uchiha?_ " He quipped while you deadpanned a blank face and pointed to yourself.

"Have you heard of me?"

You could've heard a pin drop at that. The plump student laughed at the expense of the other student, you also thought you heard his dog snigger, but it sounded like a low whine instead. "She got you there Kiba!" Kiba narrowed his canine-like eyes at the other student and huffed. "Shove it Choji."

Choji and Kiba, huh. As you began to pick at your food you noticed the other one, sitting beside Choji giving you a look over. In response, you raised an [color] eyebrow. "You always stare?"

He sighed through his nose and muttered something while sticking his finger into his ear and tweaking it. "Just trying to think where I heard Hisashi from." Was his only excuse while Choji gave him a small smack on his back. He lurched forward and sighed audibly before introducing himself. "I'm Shikamaru Nara... this is troublesome," Shikamaru complained before putting his head back on his desk.

As you were picking at your food, Kiba's companion found himself at your side with interest in whatever you were having. While Kiba conversed with the other students, you would share some of your lunch with the pup you learned was named Akamaru.

Taijutsu honestly scares the crap out of you. Iruka paired the students up with one another and yet here you were, unsure of what's going on. It's so physical... everyone has been training for years and was used to it and could do the majority of everything with ease. You were thankful to be paired up with Hinata in this mess. Off in your spot with the shy Hyuga, you were consistently questioning on how to do things.

For Hinata, this was _very_ different. Never had she experienced someone asking her how to do things. Because of that Hinata decided to help you by breaking down everything move by move. At first, the Hinata showed you what type of stance to take depending on the move set you were going to use, whether they were offensive or defensive, or even a mixture of both. 

"I'm gonna have to practice this so much." You murmured to Hinata, eyeing the way that the other students were moving with such ease it almost made you feel worthless. Beside you Hinata looked on, at one point she felt the same way that you did but... she didn't want that! No, for some reason you seemed like such a genuine and kind person. Hinata shook her head, giving you a shy smile.

"I-I'll help you, [Name]! My fa-family excels i-in taiju-tsu."

Deep down you felt a bubble of appreciation and showed Hinata a wide grin, but it quickly faltered.

"Did you see how she moved?"

"Psh, yeah. She's _never_ going to make it to graduation."

Three girls stood together off in the corner, slyly taking glances at where you and Hinata were practicing. They're eyes always hovered to Sasuke who was holding his own extremely well against another student. They were giggling amongst themselves and obvious were taking puck shots at other students who were practicing their forms. Somewhere, beyond the hurt, there was this bubbling searing hotness. One that made you want to show them otherwise.

"She's worse than Naruto..."

Speaking of Naruto, you looked around the field unable to locate where exactly he was. I mean, how hard is it to find someone wearing so much orange and such bright blond hair...? After a few seconds of looking for him, you and Hinata began to practice again, this time with Hinata showing you how to keep your arms defensive but able to strike offensively. Though the two of you were practicing, your mind raced elsewhere. There was something you were thinking about, offhandedly and as if it were muscle memory –

Hinata was shocked the moment that you actually showed moves like you've done this before. Albeit caught off guard, Hinata was able to effectively defend herself with your quick movements. What she did notice was the dazed look on your face, you were clearly unfocused but your body was reacting in a way that reminded her of an active ninja would be like! Quickly as you were moving gracefully, the next thing Hinata noticed was that you were focused and put flat on your ass by her natural reaction.

"Ugh!"

"[Na-Name]! I'm so sorry."

Hazel eyes blinked curiously and with slight concern when they noticed you sitting beside the known Hyuga Princess. An ice pack was pressed to on the back of your shoulder, the two of you appeared to be in conversation with you mostly doing the talking. Talking about what? Fuuka wasn't quite sure, but she did smile warmly at what was unfolding. "Oh, [Name]? Are you all right?"

Pausing in conversation with Hinata, you looked and saw your guide to Konoha. "Ah, we were practicing taijutsu, I kind of got whooped." You were laughing lightly while Hinata was having a blush eruption. Fuuka knelt beside you and moved your ice pack, next thing you know there's an odd, cooling sensation in the back of your shoulder. "What is that?"

"I'm a trained medical ninja, I'm using medical ninjutsu," Fuuka explained as she leaned back and watched as you rolled your shoulders without any type of pain. Hinata herself looked just as pleased with your healing.

Everyone stood up, but your attention was still to the same spot that you were practicing with Hinata. You frowned and felt the air in your body deflate. You weren't upset with the idea of being compared to Naruto, all you knew about him was that he had way too much energy and seemed to be late a lot for class. You were disappointed in not being able to do what felt like something simple. "Do you want to practice, [Name]" Fuuka questioned innocently enough.

Shrugging your shoulders you put your hands behind your back. "Don't we need to get me stuff? Plus I can't do it by myself."

It wasn't like you were going to become an overnight superstar with taijutsu but still you needed to practice it. There was a month, that barely felt like anything. Feeling a small bump of your elbow you noticed Hinata playing with her fingers again, a quirk you've noticed that she does when shy and nervous. 

"I'll sta-ay to h-help you, [Name]." The shy Hyuga offered and felt elated when you were trying to figure out how to make it work. The two of you felt relaxed when Fuuka offered to do all of the shopping for you. With a few personal questions regarding what kind of clothing you wanted and a quick guesstimate of sizing, you and Hinata were back to sparring and training with each other.

What you weren't expecting was getting the hang of taijutsu faster than you expected, the only thing that you needed adjustments with was being spacially aware of your surroundings. You felt amazed at the feeling and the rush and the blood pumping. By the time the two of you were finished the sky and turned orange and there was a small breeze flowing through the village. You were laying in the grassy part of the training ground, Hinata sat beside you - both enjoying the little bit of silence. [Color] hair sticky from sweat and plastered on your face. "Hey Hinata," She hummed in recognition. "Why did you want to become a ninja?"

That was a tough question and Hinata wished that she could've answered without needing to stutter her answer. But as Hinata was thinking about her answer, she started to think really, why? Everyone from the Great clans became ninjas because it was duty and honor because its what was expected of them. What would she be if there wasn't a need for ninjas? Though the more than Hinata thought about it the more she thought about her father, about her sister. There was a reason why to be a ninja, to be strong and continue on, even if her father didn't see her like that anymore. But yet, when she looks at you, Hinata felt like maybe she _could_ get stronger, confident. Maybe then!

"Hinata, what are you still doing here?"

The stern voice woke both of you from your thoughts with a slight jump. You sat up from the ground to find a serious looking male who had the same eyes as Hinata, but he made them look scary versus beautiful. His brown hair was long and held in a low ponytail, in the glimmer of the evening sun you caught the gleam of his Konoha headband. This was the first time you were up close with a non-adult ninja with a headband. 

Hinata jumped up immediately while you analyzed the stranger with skeptical [color] eyes. "N-Nej-i! I-I wa-was helping [Name]..." Her voice tapered off under the gaze of her older cousin, you stood up with arms crossed and narrowed eyes. Hinata was shy in class and in front of you, but this? This to you was really odd. "Sh-she's new."

Neji narrowed his eyes at your unsure face. This was the first time that Hiashi had to send him out in order to see what was keeping Hinata. Of course, he was extremely surprised to find her still at the academy with a stranger. At least it wasn't Naruto, but still. Here stood some random individual, even if they are a student. Neji really didn't care for that look on your face, but he did note the way you were standing defensively in front of Hinata.

Sucking on the inside of your cheek, you tried relaxing by at least putting your hands slightly on your hip. Less hostile, you believed. "I'm not good at taijutsu, Hinata was helping me." You defended her additionally, you weren't sure how this 'Neji' was going to buy it. The look on his face though, you wished that you could wipe it right off.

He shook his head and glared. "Uncle is looking for you Hinata." That was all that Neji was going to say as he stood there, while Hinata exchanged a look with you before meekly mumbling seeing you tomorrow in class. As Hinata began walking away, both you and Neji exchanged unpleasant looks before he left.

"What a jackass."


	4. Troublesome Difficulties & Flowers

_Bang. Bang. Bang._

It was a sound that echoed through the empty training ground of the academy at the end of the day. The next day, after yours and Hinata's training session, was preforming ninjutsu on your own. Your face burned with embarrassment when you were unable to perform the hand seals correctly and even when you managed to do so, one out of five times something might happen. You could hear some of the more catty students remark that you were worse than Naruto. Hinata tried her best to console you during the day but could tell it was affecting you more than you were letting on. Hinata wanted to stay after class to assist you, but of course,e her cousin showed up to fetch her that way there was no need to dirty whatever dignity remained with someone much lower.

Your hands struggled with creating and preforming the quick succession of hand seals. There was a rush of chakra from within but it wasn't connecting with your physical connection. A key reaction required to perform any ninjutsu or genjutsu. You stared at your hands and cursed them for unable to do what you wanted, pushing your fingers through your [color] hair in frustration. 

The majority of the academy students left for the day but you would be damned if you were to fall even further behind. There were always other graduation periods, you learned that from other students, but you enjoyed the company of Naruto and Hinata and would love to be able to graduate with them.

Rat. Ox. Tiger. Hare. Dragon.

Creating the hand seals, you could feel the one-sided spike of chakra but lacking the other half. You gave up before attempting the remaining half of the hand seals, putting your head in the circle that your arms made around your knees.

"Say, isn't that [Name]... ?" 

It wasn't that hard to hear the voice from the distance even if you just wanted to stick your head in the ground and never worry about it again. You just kept repeating the sounds that the hand seals made in your head and imagined how it would work. You were attempting the transformation jutsu, an easy one. One that even Naruto could do. There was only a twenty percent chance of your jutsus even connecting and that wasn't much. There had to be away, but what was the reasoning that you had such difficulties?

There was an ever so gentle tap on your arm and you peaked up to find Choji squatting down in front of you with a curious look on his face. Standing beside him was Shikamaru who had his finger back in his ear, attempting to look disinterested in the good deed that Choji was attempting to perform. But you could catch the ever so corner glance. Lifting the rest of your head, you gave a sheepish smile and moved your hair out form your face. "Hi."

Choji had a closed-eyed smile and a small wave of his own and Shikamaru simply grunted in response, though he could feel warm ever so slightly. "Why are you still here?" Questioned Shikamaru, not like he, ya know... cared or anything. 

There was an oddity about you, but then again the entire class was an oddity between all of those in the class. Next clan heads, lone surviving clan members, misfits. Then you arrive yesterday with a glint in your eye and a desire to want to know everything and how it works. For Shikamaru it was troublesome, but yet he was interested in you. You appeared to be someone who did not know anything that is common knowledge, especially for those whose families produced ninjas. Sure maybe he was... interested further than that, you were someone he didn't grow up with and having embarrassing stories with.

Relieving pressure in your chest in the form of a sign you stretched out your legs and Choji took a seat on the ground cross-legged. Lifting your hands, you wiggled your fingers ever so slightly in the desire that maybe something awe-inspiring would happen. "I keep failing at performing ninjutsu, I feel like I always get the hand seals wrong. It's like... the hand seals or wrong but everyone does them and can do it." Your voice became ever so whiny at the tail end, mentally visualizing the way everyone creates their hand seals.

Snake. Horse. Ram. Monkey. Bird. Dog. Boar.

The echoing of familiar sounds coming from Choji's consistent munching made you feel relaxed, there wasn't any sniggers or sly remarks from either of the boys. Typically they'd pick on each other but you noticed that they'd slow down for you, especially when you were trying to catch up with material. "Yeah, I remember when I was first learning them, they are a pain in the _ass_." Choji moaned as he reminisced in memory of first starting the academy and the first lesson of hand seals. He had difficulty keeping up himself. "Shikamaru had a hard time too."

Shikamaru tensed up when he felt your sparkling [color] eyes look at him with intrigue. To you, Shikamaru was one of the smartest people in the class. The Nara found himself warming up and blushing, "How troublesome..."

Choji chuckled while you smiled shyly, but felt assured that it isn't bad that you were having a hard time. Shikamaru was the one who mentioned that they would help you with hand seals. Choji showed you the hand seals more slowly and help you with making corrections that you hadn't realized needing to be made. Shikamaru would show you the rapid succession that the hand seals would need to perform the correct ninjutsu.

"Try the transformation technique." One of them mentioned, your anxiety skyrocketed in the thought of performing it and consistently failing.

Taking a slow breath in, you relaxed your shoulders and concentrated. First, you had to transform into someone. You studied both Choji and Shikamaru, they were one of the only two in front of you. Plus you had to get nearly every detail correct for a 'passing' transformation.

Dog. Boar. Ram.

You felt a pinch when focusing, the chakra strength was there but not the physical. You groaned loudly in frustration when it didn't work again. However, there was something inside of you that thought differently this time around. You thought about what was the ninjutsu, what it did. You rapidly tried the same hand seals and found yourself forming wordless words from your lips.

_Evolve. Change. Transform._

Like a rush of air, your chakra flared to life along with your physical - _vocal_ \- strength. 

Next thing anyone knows, you've transformed into a near replica of Choji/Shikamaru.

Both boys are speechless and so are you, eyes rapidly blinking and taking a look at your transformed appearance. Excitement built up inside before you exploded. "Hell yeah!" You punched a fist up into the air just as the jutsu released causing a puff of smoke. You returned to appearing like yourself, [color] eyes, and [color] hair in your preferred hairstyle.

Choji's voice matched your level as he cheered alongside you, Shikamaru had been squatting down and had a lazy grin of his own.

"Thank you so much, I'm not sure what happened but I think I might have a handle on this." You beamed at the two when the three of you stepped out into the pathway. 

Choji waved his hand slightly in his face. "Ah, it ain't no big deal [Name]. Glad we could help." Shikamaru nodded his head while rubbing the back of his neck. "If you need anything else, just ask one of us in class."

You watched as the duo walked away in the same direction and then that unfriendly emotion returned. You were alone in this village. Choji and Shikamaru had each other, Hinata had her grumpy cousin. Kiba had Akamaru, hell even when Sakura and Ino weren't fighting over Sasuke, they seemed to sort of like one another in class. You smiled sadly as you turned on your heel and decided to walk around before returning to an empty studio.

Deep down you were excited with being comfortable with taijutsu, maybe figuring out your ninjutsu situation. The villagers all appeared happy and pleasant people on the front. Groups or couples walking around all happy and carefree going about their daily lives. You were leaning against the wall of a shop while you people watched. Some shadows flew overhead, older shinobi jumping on the rooftops versus walking along the roads.

_I wonder what Hisashi would be doing if he was here..._ you mused sadly trying to imagine what would be happening now. Ideally, you would hope that Hisashi wouldn't ditch you in a ditch and would help you with your troublesome hand seal issues. Your thoughts were interrupted by the sound your stomach was making, deep and loud growling sounds. You laughed nervously when a group of housewives gave you a pointed look. You took off with the thought of a single ramen shop in mind.

Ichiraku Ramen was a wonderful sight as you ducked underneath the hanging curtains and welcomed warmingly by the chef. "Ah, welcome! You were with Lady Fuuka last time right?"

Even if it was just the other day, it felt like it could've been last week. "Yeah, the ramen was amazing." You confessed as you sat on one of the stools, trying to think over the menu on what you wanted. The chef appeared to be pleased, giving you some time to figure out your early dinner situation.

"[Name]? Hey!" A boisterous voice was one level below screechy. Your head snapped and a smiled appeared almost instantaneously. Naruto appeared a little surprised to see you but it was very obvious to be excited by your presence. "I always try to catch up with you after class, but you like, disappear!" 

Giving Naruto a sheepish laugh, you scratched your cheek. "I haven't disappeared, Naruto. I'm just trying to catch up. Shikamaru and Choji helped with my hand seals today." You were pumped with that part, Naruto beamed with excitement for you, yet deep down he wished you asked him for help. Naruto could admit though he noticed you struggling and could hear the other students in the background, comparing the two of you. It bothered him and depending on who it was Naruto did confront them, he could see how it was breaking you down. He was used to it, you didn't have to deal with that.

The two of you placed your order with the chef and decided to talk while patiently waiting for the food. "Do you need any more help, [Name]?"

Heaving a sigh as your shoulders seemed to have slid down a bit. "Probably. You guys have had _years_ to practice and make sure everything was perfect. I just managed to do the transformation jutsu today." You grumbled and wished that you could've slumped down in your seat, it felt so embarrassing but you knew that it was okay. You were new, who was supposed to learn everything in a split second.

Naruto lightly patted you on your back, keeping his smile. "It's okay [Name]. If you want, I'll help you with everything!" 

"Naruto? You sure about that?" "Of course! Not like I've got anything better to do."

Dinner between the two of you was exciting, not being alone and having someone there as a company meant a lot. Afterward, you two walked with one another and it wasn't until...

"Wait, you live here Naruto?" You whispered a little bit while looking up at a familiar apartment building. You pointed at it a little weakly before looking at Naruto, who was looking at you like you had two heads.

"Uh, yeah."

There was a pause between the two of you before Naruto's mind finally caught up with himself.

"You live here too?!"

Dumbly nodding you had Naruto follow you up a few flights of stairs until coming to your studio. "Wow, this nice." Naruto whistled lowly as the two of you entered your home. "It's nice [Name]." You tried to feel humble and sat on your bed, glancing over the room as Naruto continued with the mental comparison of his own home.

"It is, but for some reason, it feels like something is missing." You wondered, it felt like you've lived with other people or maybe it was pets? Regardless, it felt cold and empty. _I wonder if the Hokage would let me have a cat..._

_No. No felines!_

You felt startled hearing that overlapping voice again. You and Naruto yawned at the same time, night had come quick enough between the conversations the two of you had. "I'll see you in class tomorrow Naruto." You gave the blond a closed smile, letting you miss the deepening red blush on his face and also missing the curious and surprise's gaze from afar. 

After closing the door and getting ready for bed, changed and all, you were slightly startled to hear three quick knocks on the door. Your heart raced and suddenly felt very small and naked, despite your sleepwear. Your first thoughts filtered to those who hunted Hisashi down, could they have figured out where you were? Have they _hunted_ you down?

One of your first reactive thoughts was to grab something sharp, the only thing that you could think of was one of the knives from the drawer. Gripping the handle tightly, thankful that learning how to hold kunais wasn't difficult at all. It was at that moment that you realized that there was no peephole in the hallway. Cracking the door open, you almost dropped the knife into your foot at how to lose your hand went. 

"S-Sasuke?

That's exactly who you found yourself staring at.

Sasuke Uchiha, every pre-teens wet dream from what you've gathered standing in front of you appearing... sheepish? Annoyed? Invoncienved, despite it being _he_ who knocked on _your_ door? You hesitantly raised a [color] brow, curious of your classmate.

Sasuke, on the other hand, felt his face becoming warm and he was hoping that his face wasn't turning red. He couldn't stand the idea of... reaching out, asking for any type of assistance. But something inside of him twisted around ever so slightly when he realized that you and Naruto were friendly and that he was coming out of your apartment, only a couple doors down from his own. Granted you've only been around for what, two days? He didn't even notice that you were living down the hall. Not admitting aloud or even consciously to himself, it bothered him that he didn't notice.

Coughing slightly to ease the lump in his throat. "It's late and... I didn't realize I didn't have any food for tonight..." Ever so quietly did the Uchiha admit his dilemma? By the time he would reach the store that he would go to, it would be too late and he honestly didn't want to inconvenience someone who just wanted to go home, despite his coldness. 

Internally, for some reason, you let out a breath of relief. There was no reason for you to be nervous about why Sasuke of all people was visiting, but it certainly was odd considering the lack of a connection the two of you shared. Physically you nodded your head and opened the door a little wider. "Come in, we'll see what I've got."

Walking over to the kitchenette, Sasuke walked in and took in the quaint and empty studio. There were no personal items, barely anything honestly. Sasuke didn't have many personal items himself, but for some reason, this felt even more empty than his own home. 

"I've got some instant ramen, smaller bags of rice, and some produce." You called over to him after inspecting your cupboards and the fridge ever so briefly, not giving your guest any looks. You took it upon yourself to put some different items into a mixing bowl, a little of this and that for variety. You turned around with the bowl in arms to find Sasuke inspecting your studio, you felt shy under his investigating gaze. But what for? It isn't like you had anything to hide, or anything... honestly. The only thing that you had was Hisashi's knapsack which was resting on the dresser and his sandy cloak, hanging over the back of a kitchen chair.

You handed over the bowl to Sasuke who seemed a little put off by the amount you were giving him. "It's no big deal, I'll probably go out over the weekend to replace anything of worth." You smiled honestly, not feeling inconvenienced in the slightest. "I don't think I'll be needing the bowl any time soon, so whenever you're ready to give it back."

The one-piece of food that caught his attention happened to be the four tomatoes on a vine resting on top of the other things. Did you know they were his favorite? No, there was no way you could. You didn't socialize with his 'fangirls', you were always talking with the Hyuga girl and he had noticed you interacting with the boys all the way in the back of the class.

But still... it felt nice. "Thank you... I'll see you tomorrow?" Sasuke felt himself letting the words escape without truly considering the implication of looking forward to seeing this new girl. He watched you with mild interest as you showed a little bit of surprise with his words, internally he felt like he scored some imaginary point. 

Escorting the Uchiha to your door, you gave him a smile. "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow Sasuke. Goodnight!"

* * *

You certainly did see Sasuke the next day, along with Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, and Hinata. And you continued to for the next two weeks as you continued your education at the academy. Hinata, when she could, would continue to asssit you with your taijutsu training. Whatever the reason may be, the Hyuga admitted that her father was easing up on the idea of Hinata training with a 'lower' class person. 

Neji had been the one to pass along the information, along with an insistence that if anything happened to Hinata, he knew who to look at.

Shikamaru and Choji were an interesting duo to spend some time with. At one point you were invited on two occasions to a group cloud gazing session and then a BBQ treat on a day over a weekend. Choji was shocked that you didn't know how to cook your own meat and was excited to be able to show you the ropes.

Well, with Naruto being your neighbor it was a less lonely walk home after classes when you weren't training with Hinata. the two of you would talk about the topics of the day and the way that Iruka would scold him _all the time_ as Naruto would put it. Sometimes the knucklehead would be waiting for you at the building entrance, waking himself up early for a morning walk.

It was the end of the third week, Friday, when you were taking the required kunoichi class with many of the other girls and found yourself under the criticizing eye of one Ino Yamanaka.

"You've been taking these classes and yet you still can't arrange a decent flower bouquet!" The pale blond student scolded as she took over your assignment as the sensei had stepped out of the classroom. 

Sighing you leaned back and watched Ino work. You didn't have too many interactions with Ino considering her interest in your neighbor. It didn't help when he made the comment.

_It was probably a couple of minutes before the end of lunch, everyone having returned. You were having a conversation with Choji while sitting on the desk next to Hinata, back to the front of the classroom. It was a simple, silly conversation about different types of foods and the ones you've never tried yet. Choji seemed pretty intent on getting you to try some pretty odd combinations._

_Hinata not being much of a conversationalist on her own was enjoying the conversation and how expressive you were in your facial expressions. Shikamaru was listening as well and could admit some of the things that Choji was saying weren't all that bad._

_"[Name]," Basically everyone stopped what they were doing when the Uchiha addressed your name. You casually turning your body ever so slightly to give Sasuke your attention, eyes signaling interest in what he had to say. It wasn't often that the two of you exchanged words, especially within the classroom. "I'll be stopping by to drop it off."_

_In **your** head, you knew immediately what he was talking about. It was the start of the new week, having given Sasuke a bowl of food last Thursday. You hummed and gave a small nod with your head. "Just knock, I'll let you in."_

_You went to return to your conversation when you suddenly felt the room drop in temperature before rising to some quite sweltering degrees. That's when you realized that his fangirls heard everything... and all were assuming the worst of that interaction._

_"How troublesome..."_

Following that day, you were barraged with endless questions about what was your relationship with their precious Sasuke and where did you live? Did you live near Sasuke? Where did _Sasuke_ live?

The most annoying out of everyone was Ino and Sakura. They were ruthless in their questioning for that week. But, you found yourself ending up in more conversations with both of them. You were hesitant to really form a connection, always wondering if they were trying to get more dirt on your and Sasuke's nonexistent relationship.

"How are you so good with this, Ino?" You curiously questioned, watching as the Yamanaka inspected a flower closely. You try to put the flowers of similar colors together but yet it wasn't always right and Ino was consistently pointing that out and rearranging everything.

Ino, on the other hand, gave you an odd look. "You really don't know?" That almost sounded like a sneer. No, that was a sneer.

A new voice entered the conversation, one you weren't surprised at. "Lay off Ino-Pig, [Name] only got here three weeks ago." Sakura chimed in, also ganging up on your failed flower arranging attempt. Ino and Sakura simply glared at one another, forgetting your existence as they tried to see who could arrange your flowers better briefly.

"So, does that mean you don't know anything about the major clans?" Ino chirped up, eyeing the arrangement to see if it was a solid case or not. 

You looked at the flowers, feeling pleased with the arrangements of yellows, reds, and some very soft pastel pinks that you didn't know flowers could hold. "Shikamaru told me a bit about his family, Choji explained his and Hinata offers a few insights on the Hyuga's. I've got a vague grasp on what clan Sasuke's from."

After all, no one would shut up about the infamous Uchiha clan. You also heard people, mostly adults, reminiscing about the _Uchiha Clan Massascure_. There were a few nights where you would randomly find yourself almost dreaming of what it was. "I don't really remember a lot," You murmured on the lower side, sticking your finger in your ear a bit and twisting, much like Shikamaru often does. "Fuuka said it's probably amnesia from trauma."

It was your first weekend when Fuuka wanted to do a physical and a mental check-up. She was pleased with your process at the academy and how you were holding up living on your own. She was probing you a bit about your home, Hisashi, your childhood. You couldn't remember anything and every time you attempted to, it was a struggle and it actually hurt. Since then Fuuka didn't ask any further questions. 

On her own, Fuuka made sure to let the Hokage and Iruka know the situation, though you weren't privy to this information.

"Well, my family runs the local flower shop, so I've been doing this for a long time." Ino bolstered happily, Sakura rolling her green eyes. "Plus, the Yamanaka clan is pretty awesome, not much more to say on that."

You, on the other hand, cocked your head to the side and gave the blond a stare. Uh-huh. "What about you Sakura?" 

The pink-haired student became silent, eyes darkening slightly and overall you could sense that the mood became slightly foul. Foul... no not foul, but almost sad. "Uh, my family isn't from a clan. But my parents are shinobi too. Ino's and my mom are part of a Allied Mother's Alliance team!" The color returned to Sakura's eyes as she claimed excitedly, Ino shared that excitement as well with the mention of her mother's name.

Moms... you wondered what was your mom like? Were the two of you close or did you butt heads like Ino and Sakura do together? You fiddled with a flower in your hands, twirling it around. What kind of flower did your mom love?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a quick peek at Sakura's mother and father, it seems that they are both shinobi, considered to be "genin" during Part II. Sakura's mother is part of an all mother's alliance team, so that's what I'm running with for this.


	5. Disappointment & Beginnings

The clouds passed through the blue sky on a steady breeze. Uncaring and unwavering in their travels across the earth. There was nothing for a cloud to do but continue on their journey. Tomorrow was graduation, tomorrow meant that you've been living in Konoha for over a month. It didn't feel like a month had gone by, only a month ago you woke up to Hisashi and lost him only hours later. But here you were, still alive and hopefully to graduate the academy to become a real ninja.

You faced difficulties in the beginning, between lack of experience with taijutsu and struggles with preforming hand seals, though you've sort of grasped the concept of speaking aloud of what you needed the ninjutsu to accomplish. But you've also have found yourself finding friends and you hoped that they would see you in the same light. Overall you felt like you were beginning to fit into a place where you thought there wasn't a spot for you.

"This is a waste of time."

You hummed in recognition of the slightly agitated voice. Your [color] eyes reflected the white clouds passing by above, a slight cooling breeze gave you some type of relief of the sweat running down your spine. Sitting there felt like there's a chance of peace. But what type of peace were you thinking, _hoping_ , for? In the pit of your stomach, it felt as if there was a place without peace and it troubled you. Almost like an annoying rock that was in your shoe, but every time you went to look for it, the damn rock wasn't there.

"This is really, a big waste of time."

You waved your hand in the air back and forth limply. "You say that, but you're sitting there too." You quirked with a smile, one that he couldn't see. But that meant that you couldn't see the blushing scowl running across his face. It was true and he wouldn't admit it aloud.

"Hn."

Tomorrow was Monday, but it was early enough in the morning that no one would bother the two of you. A few shinobi teams were passing through for the training grounds further in. A few would spare some glances, but none otherwise. They were in their world and so were you. The worlds, at least for one more day, would remain separate. 

You laid back on the ground, just as you would with Shikamaru and Choji when the three of you would look up at the sky. Craning your head back, you could see Sasuke sitting there with his onyx eyes staring blankly at your antics. "Why did you want to become a ninja?" You questioned him, the questioned swirled in your head many times when talking with your friends. But for some odd reason, you felt more inclined to ask Sasuke of all people. 

As for Sasuke, he hadn't expected the question. As a young child, everyone was asked that question and nearly everyone gave the same answer, to protect the village. For him, the question wasn't identical but the feelings behind it once were the same. But now, that has changed but looking at you like this, you had an innocence that was foreign to him and it felt foreign to this world. "Why does that matter? Its a stupid question."

You allowed for his words to sink into your body and it felt a little heartbreaking for him to be saying that, but it was his choice and his reasoning. You had to accept it after all Sasuke didn't have to assist you with genjutsus like he has for the last week or so. You shrugged your shoulders before sitting up from the ground before coming to a stand. "How about we train with kunais?" You exclaimed with excitement, giving Sasuke a bit of emotional whiplash.

Standing apart from one another - each having practice kunais (taken with permission) from the academy, both giving curt nods before charging at one another. The kunais clashed against each other and you could feel your give against Sasuke's strength. You knew this when accepting a mutual agreement for training. Like you continue to admit to yourself, everyone has had years on you.

You gave a push back with some chakra behind it and leaped away. That gave Sasuke a bit of a step to save himself from eating dirt, but he acted immediately when you threw the kunai at him. You huffed to yourself but of course, Sasuke could dodge it. You created hands seals while voicing your vocal seals, creating a second identical half of yourself - glad that you had been training with a variety of people on ninjutsu.

With your clone beside you, the two of you charged at Sasuke as you focused on your taijutsu skills and the clone worked with the kunai. You've learned quickly that a clone would be dismissed with enough physical damage and with your level it would probably take a kick to the stomach or even an elbow to the face. Some of which you've experienced with Sasuke as a training partner.

The Uchiha was slightly impressed with your actions. He has flattened your ass multiple times and it seems like you've been learning from your mistakes and taking a few points from him. Every chance that he attempted to take out your clone, you would interfere and put yourself in the way giving the clone extra time and moves against him.

With your clone, Sasuke had to move a few times just centimeters from his face- a few tiny pieces of his hair being cut. With this, every time he could feel his heart beat faster. Sasuke defended himself with his forearm against one of your incoming attacks and moved faster than you expected, his kunai slicing your flesh along your forearm when pulling back.

You and your clone backed away as you looked down at the bleeding. Even if they were practicing kunais, they were still very real. You and Sasuke shared a surprised look as the trickle of blood was slow and not oozing as you expected even with where it was. Time felt slow as you touched the edges of the wound and felt your skin grow icy, it reminded you of the chakra nature paper with Hisashi.

Though still open, the bleeding came to a stop as the edges appeared to look like frost. Swallowing a lump in your throat, you looked up with Sasuke with a determined look. As Sasuke saw your look, he nodded his head as the two of you leaped right back into it.

"You are such a dope." Sasuke scolded as he held up your forearm after the training session came to an end, an hour later. Of course or well... Sasuke attempted to try and end it sooner but you kept pushing it. Somehow at the end of it, all the two of you managed to flatten each other's ass at the same time. Together you walked back into the village, both trying to decide would a visit to the hospital be better or just go back to one of your places for some medical bandages.

His calculating eyes narrowed at the frost around the wound and even picked at it, you released a loud yelp at this. "Stop being a baby." Sasuke glared as you glared back just as intensely. Never had he seen, though he had very limited experience outside the academy, he's read quite a bit and never did he see or read anything like this. "You sure that you aren't from a clan?"

With a slight relaxation in his grip, you snatched your arm back. "Yeah, I'm guessing so. Doesn't everyone normally have their clan's symbol on their clothes." You took your noninjured side and tugged at Sasuke's blue shirt, his hand smacked yours away. Rolling your eyes at the Uchiha you peeked out around the corner of the alleyway, a shortcut to the training grounds the two of you learned from the apartment complex.

"Do you think it needs stitches?" You mused and held up your forearm in the light, Sasuke once again taking your arm to inspect it. You watched his face, it was calm and collected and emotionless. You thought you saw a twitch of his eye before taking back the arm. "On second thought, if it does I don't know if I would trust you with a suture."

On that note, you attempted to leave Sasuke and walk to the hospital alone, but for whatever reason, he decided to accompany you. Perhaps it was some type of minimal guilt.

No one paid any mind to two teenagers walking down the street. There were a few shinobi who did give a glance at the sight of Sasuke Uchiha walking with a girl, especially one unknown and still strange in the village. Then there were a couple of eyeballs looking at the way you cradled your arm. The two of you were walking leisurely despite you being a bit wounded both enjoying the mutual silence. That is until you caught sight of some color that was quite obvious at this point. Noticing a smaller alleyway coming up, you took the opportunity to shove the Uchiha into it.

"The hell," Sasuke could feel agitation rise and glared at you like flames of hell as you slapped your good hand over his mouth. You put your index finger up to your mouth and very softly hushed him. 

"You're probably going to fail tomorrow Forehead."

That's when Sasuke realized what type of pitfall the two of you just missed.

"Oh shut up Ino-Pig. You're the one who needs to worry."

Covered by the shadows the two of you watched Ino and Sakura walk pass. Releasing a slow sigh through your nose, you removed your hand from Sasuke's mouth. But you completely tensed up and even Sasuke could feel the shift in the air. 

"Did you hear that [Name] might not pass?"

You could hear Ino stop in her tracks and you could imagine the look on her face. 

"No, who did you hear that from?"

Sakura's voice was tense and seemed nervous in repeating the rumors. "I heard it from Jana. Some of the instructors were discussing the upcoming exam and weren't confident in [Name]'s progress. They were also mentioning some of the weird things that she does when creating hand seals."

Sasuke stared at you, taking in the look on your face. Your head was turned ever so slightly in the direction of their voices. There was a look of pain, hurt, and mild disgust. Sasuke could sense the moment that Ino and Sakura walked further enough away, you must've sensed it as well when you dipped out of the alleyway, body turned toward where the retreating backs of Ino and Sakura were. The single thing that he noticed was your forearm. That frostbite changed and his eyes widened in shock.

That frostbite evolved into what looked like a thin layer of ice, he could even see the wafting look of smoke. Your wound was encased in dry ice. A small glisten caught his eye. On the opposite wall was a small sheet of ice from where your body was pressed. "[Nam]-!"

Stepping out of the alleyway, Sasuke realized that you completely disappeared. It wasn't even like he could sense you, but he wasn't sure what bothered him more. That look on your face or the oddity that you carried around, especially that cold sensation.

"Shit!" You hissed when pouring the alcohol over the now exposed wound. You seriously hoped that Sasuke wouldn't dare attempt to knock on your apartment door, though it wasn't like he'd find you in there. With the leftover alcohol dripped over the rocks and down the slope. Upon the face of the Hokage Mountain, you attempted to bandage up your forearm all on your own. The sting of the alcohol paled in comparison to the sensation of hurt hearing that some of the instructors thought so lowly of you.

"Ah! Fuck this!" At that moment you threw the uncapped alcohol bottle as far as you could over the village from the mountain, not even paying attention how far it went. Burying your face in your hands you could feel the excitement of the exam melt away much like the ice of your wound. Though your self-pitying lasted only so long before you could hear the obvious loud laughter of another one of your apartment neighbors.

"Hehehe! Take this!"

Peeking through your fingers for a minute, you leaned over with support from your good arm with chakra focus to stick to the damn head of whoever you were on, Ah, the first Hokage head. Blinking slowly to make sure you were seeing everything correctly, you raised a brow at the sight of Naruto jumping around with _paint_ , painting the faces of the Hokages having started with the fourth. It was only when he was under the brow of the firs that you announced your presence.

"Naruto, what the seven hells are you doing?"

Naruto craned his neck backward, blue eyes widening seeing your curious and slightly disapproving look. "Ah [Name]! What you doing up there?!"

"Brooding. Why are you defacing the Hokages?"

"Ah, well, um!"

Suddenly the two of you could hear two loud male voices shouting in unison. "Naruto!"

Naruto though grinned wildly before returning his attention to you. "I'll see you tomorrow [Name] for the exam!"

The knucklehead took off just as two other male shinobi arrived, not even sparing you a single glance. That only reinforced the brooding cloud in your heart. Breathing heavily you stood up, peering out over the village. There was a pang of something in the deep reaches of your mind and a fuzzing moment in your vision.

Then there was a flare, it burned pleasantly. 

You pumped chakra into your feet before taking off. Uncaring of the direction and how far it would take.

That flare inside continued as you left the village over one of the walls, seemingly avoiding detection, and through the trees. Leaving a brush of ice in your wake as your emotions boiled. You only had tunnel vision and only had a tunnel of emotions that just felt dark. The day waned as you marched on in your directionless destination. 

What did happen and where you landed was the last place you ever wanted to be. Though it had been a month there was a stale smell of blood in the air and death lingering along the ground like a smog. In your eyes, you could see where each of them stood and where Hisashi stood in his final moments. The flare in your stomach remained and you could feel that there was something unusual. Walking hesitantly you moved to where you could feel Hisashi took his last breath.

Beneath your foot, you could feel a difference in the ground. Kicking the ground ever so slightly and felt something just beneath the surface. Stepping out of your brooding darkness you knelt and felt it. You could feel the shape of something but it felt like you were touching the ground. Frowning, you channeled your chakra, " _Reveal_."

An illusion melted away to reveal a small rolled-up scroll. Nothing like they've shown you in the academy. It was the size of your palm and had a wax seal over the page. Sighing and looking around and over your shoulder, you couldn't sense anyone but you could sense like you were being watched.

No _person_ , but somehow there was a set of eyes.

Getting a fingernail underneath the wax seal, you popped it.

* * *

A loud sigh and release of smoke filled the small office. Hiruzen reached up and removed the Hokage hat and placed it beside him on the desk. He rubbed his face out of exhaustion, the crystal ball before him released the image of a young academy girl with [color] hair and [color] eyes with her unique style, completely disappear. 

The moment that he had met you, Hiruzen could tell there was something odd and he knew it was odd. Even with the gathered letters, he couldn't accept it. A bitter smile was on Hiruzen's face as he read the report beside him. Iruka praised your achievements in a short amount of time. He was excited and believed you would pass the exam, he did have an interest in your hand seals.

Other instructors who worked with Iruka and the sensei for the kunoichi training class had reported with more disbelief and notes whether or not a teenager could be trusted as a certified kunoichi.

He could sense it nearly immediately, the dark energy wafted through the village like a winter chill that the village hadn't had in decades. Then it was all sucked back out. Hiruzen leaned back in his chair and wondered what was occurring in that clearing.

"Yes, Lord Hokage?"

Stepping from the shadows was an olive skin, middle-aged man with shaggy brown hair and deep green eyes. A small section of hair pulled back to keep the hair from his face. The notable marking was a deep scar from the left side of his chin to near the corner of his eye. His arms crossed over the breastplate that's probably seen better days, forearm guards could probably be replaced as well.

Brown eyes glanced up to see the uninterested look of his underling and Hiruzen sighed and rubbed above his brow. "Go to the clearing where we thought [Name] Hisashi's father was last seen. I trust that you've read the reports."

The mysterious man took the academy instructor reports of the desk, quickly glancing over them. "You said she's from the Land of Demons?"

Hiruzen nodded his head, watching the look of relaxation on his face. "I've sent envoys when I learned where she's from. You and Fuuka are knowledgable about her skills."

That piqued his interest, the papers being lowered. "Vocal seals? You do remember me telling you that village hadn't seen someone who vocal seals centuries?"

"Well evidently, there is one this century."

It only took Hiruzen closing his eyes for a moment and opening to find the man gone from the room. Picking up his smoking pipe Hiruzen could only hope.

_Let the pain not touch that soul._

* * *

You stood in an area that was odd and mysterious. The air was electrifying with energy that you couldn't tell if it was chakra. Trees spiraled toward the sky as light filtered through the branches and trunks. The light itself looked clear and blue, unlike your dreams where the leaves made everything green. The location felt holy, or at least sacred somehow.

Before you stood a large mirror, the reflection was murky and hazy. 

"You're upset." 

You spun immediately at the voice, finding a woman near the edge of the plateau. She was of average height wearing a white kimono with icy blue accents. What was more interesting was the mask that she was wearing, a plain white mask without identifying markings lifted enough just to show her mouth. Silver hair braided over the shoulder. 

She was ethereal, and you thought that she was some type of God. Did Gods exist?

She hummed ever so softly while approaching. As she approached you took a step backward and felt the water rise to your ankle. You looked down to find that you stepped onto a step of a large pool of water. It almost shimmered under the soft light. Lifting your foot out of the water you expected for it to be completely wet, but yet it felt completely dry. Out of the corner of your eye, you watched as the woman walked past, peering into the hazy mirror.

"Do you know where you are?"

Turning your body around, you looked at her and then to the hazy mirror. "No, I don't even know how I got here." Wary but curious eyes watched her. Her head was turned slightly, her lips moved silently as if in a conversation with another. Oddly enough, you could see in that hazy mirror some sort of reflection, a non-human one.

Her head nodded with a sorrowful smile. "Your emotions are very pure, so is the love that you have." She smiled very softly in her attempt to compliment you. On the other hand, you just couldn't make out who or what her aim was.

"Uh, thank you?" You felt awkward at this moment, eyes still glued on the hazy shape. "Why am I... here? Am I dreaming?"

Her laugh was like harp strings, her hand coming to cover her lower half. "If it is easier to call this a dream, then do so." She hummed as her attention was brought elsewhere. If you could see her eyes, they would be cast downward. Trying to figure out her line of sight, you saw teetering on the edge of the pool and ground was a sword sheathed in a white scabbard. 

Though you've never seen it in your entire life, it almost felt familiar. Reaching down you plucked it from the ground and held it flat in your hands.

Her focus was now on you. "Do you remember?" She questioned, a sense of hope in the air. Her breath even as she watched you turn it over with your fingers. The tsurugi sword was foreign to you, but yet almost completed your aura.

Looking up you went to open your mouth in answer and instead was met with the vision of a field and standing in that field was another woman wearing a metal breastplate, forearm guards, and shin guards. The rest of the uniform was a dark navy or black. The most noticeable thing was the same blank white mask the last woman was wearing. On her hip was the tsurugi sword in her hands.

You went breathless watching her, a gloved hand reaching up for the mask and moving ever so slight. Your eyes widened and then you felt the world spin.

* * *

He couldn't understand why it had taken his father so long to send someone out after this wild and unpredictable child. They've survived Naruto Uzumaki's crazy antics but yet here he was cleaning up after an orphaned teen who didn't have any self-control. But who was he kidding, he was aware of the culture she came from and emotions there was much more intense than those cross the ocean.

It was late into the evening by the time he had reached the location. In the darkness, he could see a smoking haze pace around the immobile body of his mark. In the dark of the night, he could see this haze had golden slits. What could be considered its head snapped in his direction in the trees, before it evaporated into thin air?

There was something much more interesting laying beside the body. "You've got to be kidding me..." He leaped to the ground inches from where you laid. He sighed watching your evening breathing, in your unbandaged arm was an unfrilled scroll with a familiar language but one he couldn't read. The mysterious man reached down and took the tsurugi and held it up in the moonlight. "No shit, how the hell does she have this?"

Deep green eyes looked down at the serene and peaceful face of the runaway academy student. "Damn, this is gonna be a drag." He bemoaned to himself as he placed the tsurugi along his waist before picking you off the ground, he made a mental note that the ground felt freezing.

His look was pitying, he had heard some of what people were saying and he read the reports. You were much like the other two, lost in a world filled with unknowns. Especially so without your memories. He thought his wife was making it up, or at least trying to make him crumble under the sorrowful mountain of another child. "Guess you aren't taking the exam, I know I wouldn't."

You didn't dream that night, but you could feel the wind rushing around you.

Light filtered through the studio apartment, the window slightly opened allowed for a breeze to pass through and cause the light white curtains to move with the movement in the air. Beneath your body, you could feel the sheets of your bed and the sun at your back. You couldn't remember how you got here, for all you knew yesterday was a fever dream, getting sick from the training wound.

For you, that's what you were calling it. 

You laid awake for hours at this point, completely aware that today was the graduation exam and you weren't there. What was the point if everyone was stacked against you. You buried your face into your pillow in a desire to fade away into the bedding. Eventually, you did find the strength to sit up in the bed and getting yourself ready.

It was a quick arrival at the academy and you quickly noticed that there were a lot of parents waiting at the entrance of the academy. No one paid mind as you walked past them, every single one of them engrossed their conversations. Beneath a tree in the corner where you and Hinata would talk and train, you sat there in the shade away from prying eyes.

"Oh, he's going to pass with flying colors."

"She's going to be the first kunoichi in our family. Her little sister is already asking if we can send her to the academy."

Those conversations carried on until the students began to filter out. All of them wearing the shiny Konoha headband. You smiled with happiness when you saw those from your class wearing them. You saw Naruto sitting on the swing beneath the tree directly in front. There was sorrow on his face, and you could see the lack of a headband, you frowned and looked down at the ground.

"What happened today?" 

Your eyes glanced away from the feet that walked into your vision. Ignoring the scolding undertones. "Didn't show, isn't it obvious." You bit out, finding the grass quite fascinating. He scoffed loudly and you could feel his glare like it was hell's fire. There was silence between the two of you until he gave up or gave no shits at that point and decided to walk off.

Looking up, you frowned as your eyes were stuck on his clan's symbol.

Burying your head into your hands, you didn't know what you wanted. Being a ninja was your only thought and dream since you met Hisashi. Sighing you stood up with minimal effort since it was all draining into your self-pity. As you left the academy grounds there was only one person that you shared a look with, both of you conveying the same feelings through minimal efforts.

Two different sets of eyes watched you leave and one of them looked downcast. "She would've passed if she had only shown up." Iruka murmured enough for the Lord Hokage to hear him, to which Hiruzen nodded his head. From beneath his hat's brim, he watched Naruto leave the yard as well. Hiruzen had known as to why [Name] hadn't shown up but yet that wasn't his to share with Iruka.

Sasuke's words didn't have any effect on you nor did his sour personality. To you, perhaps, being a ninja wasn't something for you to be doing.

You threw the practice shurikens into a tree, one that had obvious markings from the previous shinobi. You wondered if any of them were disheartened academy students such as yourself. Mind-wandering you thought of Hisashi, would he be disappointed or... for a moment there was a flash in your mind, you saw his face but it was smiling so intently, something that you hadn't seen when you first met him.

_"Next time, there's always next time."_

The words felt important in your core but Hisashi had never said any of these words to you before. Hisashi and you had a very short relationship and you were pretty positive that there wasn't any conversation that had these words. Was it frustrating? Because hell yes it was, these words felt so important to you and you couldn't place the conversation, it was like you should know and that you are a terrible person for not remembering! Sighing loudly you attempted to allow the hot air in your body release, despite being slightly frustrated you felt thankful hearing these words. they were comforting oddly enough.

The sky was orange and you began to imagine what was happening in the village. Families were celebrating with their children's accomplishments, excitement probably rattled the house and genin your age was unable to believe that they were now apart of the village shinobi numbers. You couldn't help but smile ever so slightly, even if you weren't part of the festivities, you know, who would you celebrate with anyways? You were excited and happy for those who graduated, they worked hard for it.

"[Name]!" A loud booming voice that belonged to only one person swooped out of nowhere. With barely any time to react, you suddenly felt your body jerking in one direction as Naruto's hand held you in a vice grip. When Naruto had grabbed you, you were attempting to throw one last of your shurikens which missed the tree entirely and landed somewhere in the bushes. Your mouth was gaping open, and you couldn't get anything out with the way that Naruto had grabbed you. You hadn't been paying any mind in the direction that you had to follow him in.

You managed to pick up enough speed to follow your knuckleheaded neighbor who had checked to see if you were keeping pace with him. "Naruto, what the hell is going on? And what is that you have?" Your questioning was more so now directed a the large scroll that was on his back, a pretty damn good size honestly. But for what reason would Naruto need this huge thing?

Naruto's voice was loud and filled with excitement. "Something cool! Both of us can be ninjas with it!" However, Naruto was unable to read the look on your face – one with disbelief and wonder about what he was talking about. What was so important in that scroll that could lead the two of you to be promoted to genin?

He leads the two of you to a remote part of the woods, it must have been a part of the village because you couldn't remember going over any walls. There was a medium-sized shed, you wondered why it was out there. You assumed that maybe it was some type of maintenance shed, but what was around here that would need a maintenance shed? Naruto, uncaring of his surroundings, plopped down on the ground with the school in his arms. "Mizuki-sensei said that performing a Jutsu from this scroll means you automatically become a genin!" His face was full of excitement as he opened the scroll. Honestly, you were nosier about what was inside of the scroll versus passing the genin exam. Besides, how did Mizuki know about something like this? You had seen him around the academy waiting for Iruka, but he wasn't an academy instructor.

Taking a seat beside Naruto, you noticed him studying a jutsu called _Multi Shadow Clone_ , as you were about to try and study it yourself, there was writing that much different from the one beside it. You studied it, trying to figure out what exactly it was but of course,e none of it was making any sense. Compared to the jutsu naruto was reading, the styles of the writing were completely different and especially the instructions.

_For the one whose voice sings_

_Whose love transcends_

_May these words:_

_Guide you,_

_Protect you,_

_Serve You._

**_Change What is Set_ **

**_Reveal the New Course_ **

**_Peace upon the Worlds_ ** **_of the God Tree._ **

**_Guiding Light. Protect._ **

**_Pierce. Change. Rebirth._ **

**_Reveal._ **

They weren't written like ninjutsu at all, however, as you mumbled the last part you could feel a surge of chakra. Whoever had written these were aware of what vocal seals were and wrote them in that format. Thankfully Naruto was too interested in the shadow clone jutsu. Sighing very softly you were wondering what in this scroll could possibly get you to pass an exam that you intentionally skipped?

Naruto spent the rest of the time attempting to recreate the technique as you mused over the vocal seals. That's the thing, you've always been able to do the jutsus because you already knew the hand seals but now you were left with just vocal seals. The two of you trained on your separate techniques and there were a few times that you felt like you had it but it would quickly slip away. Any chakra you built up just felt like it got blown out, like candlelight.

"What do the two of you think you're doing?!"

Both you and Naruto shrieked and jumped, the color in your face drained as you finally paid attention to who was lurking not even a few feet away. Iruka, with both hands on his hips, stood there with an upset look on his face and a smidge of disappointment. All of a sudden you felt extremely guilty, one for being forced to sneak off with Naruto and simply skipping the exam. Iruka was an amazing sensei who gave you loads of confidence and encouragement. Now you were beginning to realize how bad of a mistake you made.

Between the two you Naruto looked pretty relaxed even though he had been training, you had known that Naruto struggled with the normal clone jutsu but after watching him... "Wow you found us, I only got to use one jutsu..." Naruto craned his neck to look back at you, you standing there with your arms crossed and huffed out hot air. "I don't know what [Name] was doing... I think she was talking to herself."

You glared at Naruto but then shrunk under Iruka's gaze, his eyes boring into your skull. "I... uhh, Naruto dragged me here... ?" You attempted to get out of this innocently even though you had been practicing out of the scroll as well. You could feel yourself being slightly sluggish from all of the training attempts. You gathered up the scroll, resealing the giant thing. You wondered what else was in the huge thing, but you were lucky enough to just learn that there were vocal seals in it.

On the other hand, Iruka sighed and looked at his two students. Looking at Naruto he was surprised to see how tired he looked, it was obvious that Naruto was actually bring forth a lot of effort with the technique that he had been studying. Unlike Naruto, you didn't look worse for wear at all, then again you did very well with ninjutsu and taijutsu with enough extra sessions and you would look so pleased with yourself afterward. Now Iruka noticed that you appeared annoyed, shoulders slightly slumped, did you not have as good as a training session? "What happened [Name]? You knew the exam was today." 

_Pay attention or you'll end up getting yourself killed!_

The hollow voice inside of your mind echoed causing you to ignore Iruka's words. [Color] eyes peered around the forest floor, you couldn't sense anyone but all of a sudden your ears could hear something ever so faint. A high pitched whistling sound and then you gasped loudly, the scroll falling from your loosened grip.

It rained kunais against the shed and against Iruka a few of them lodging into his body. You had watched Hisashi's death from afar but now you witnessed in person. Your stomach lurched ever so slightly when your nose was hit with the strong smell of iron and then you realized it was because of Iruka's blood. Looking up you could see Mizuki, the jonin that would always visit Iruka at the academy. 

Both you and Naruto could sense the terrible tension in the air and you moved close to your friend and Naruto noticed and even though he was afraid he wanted to protect you. You jumped when Iruka's voice raised to warn the two of you of Mizuki.

"That scroll has forbidden jutsus in it, if it gets in the wrong hands it could destroy the village!"

Those words sent a shudder down your spine as your mind started to race. Those words meant something! But what? You've heard them before, from Iruka but how? You shook your head, clearing these protruding thoughts. There was something more important at hand right now.

"Now, now Iruka. It isn't nice to be lying to these good children," Mizuki mused arrogantly, the hairs on the back of your neck stood at attention and you grit your teeth. Bad energy waft off of Mizuki and you grabbed the cuff of Naruto's jacket ready to drag him away. "Hand over the scroll Naruto, [Name], it isn't safe with Iruka."

"Liar!" You shouted out instinctively, Mizuki's face distorted in annoyance at your outburst. You stood in front of Naruto ever so slightly, handing off the scroll to Naruto. "If Iruka really wanted this scroll he would've taken it from us," You glared, [color] eyes turning a dark [color], face distorted in anger. "And if you were here to protect us you wouldn't be standing up in that tree all arrogant."

"[Name]..." You couldn't tell if it was Naruto or Iruka who said your name because you and Mizuki were glaring at each other with such fierceness it felt like a spark of electricity could start a fire. 

Mizuki scoffed while glaring at you as a sadistic smirk appeared on his face. "Oh? If Iruka was truly such a good man then why would he keep such a secret from Naruto?"

On the other hand, Iruka's eyes widened. "Shut up Mizuki!"

"The entire village and especially Iruka have been lying to you Naruto. The Hokage created a decree twelve years ago... Not to tell you that the nine tail fox is inside of you!"

This... why did this make sense? Your mind swirled a drain with this information and you could feel your head split. You closed your eyes and tried to stop it and behind your closed lids, in the darkness, you could see a large fox with nine tails whipping wildly. Its gaze turned to you, it began to snarl in order to intimidate you. It felt like it was real and in front of you but you suddenly felt something warm and protective as a dark fur wrapped around you. Craning your head upwards you could see the shape of an animal head and then you saw the eyes, bright yellow eyes glaring harshly at the fox.

You only escaped the fierce tension as you could feel your body hit the ground, you found Naruto covering you but behind Naruto was Iruka hunched over the two of you shielding you from one of the large shurikens from Mizuki's back. Your eyes wide and tears stung. "S-Sensei..." You whispered into Naruto's shoulder, he turns to see what scared you.

Mind whipping to when you had your injury, you reached to slightly graze Iruka's wrist, only able to touch it with your index finger. You pushed some of your chakra out of your finger and made it search for Iruka's injuries. The ice would stop the bleeding, it had to!

Distracted you missed something as Naruto forcefully made you get up and had the two of you run from the scene. Adrenaline pumped through your body between fear and anger. "Mizuki has to be wrong Naruto, Iruka wouldn't hurt us!" You called out, the two of you running at the same pace. You looked at him to find that he was cold and distraught. The two of you ended up skidding behind a large tree, your heart in your throat.

Naruto looked at you, scared and sad at this development. "You heard Mizuki though! Everyone in the village hates me." Naruto was clutching onto the scroll while pressed up against the tree. 

You glared and smacked the scroll slightly to get his attention. "I don't Naruto. I trust you, I care about you," You shook him slightly to get his attention more so. "Naruto, you are one of my only friends, you were my first friend. I don't care if you have some demon inside of you, that doesn't change who you are..."

He was stunned at your confession and it warmed him slightly. You trusted him, you didn't fear him or hate him. Inside Naruto was so happy that you felt this way because honestly, he couldn't imagine what he'd do if you hated him too. There was a loud sound, the two of you realized that it was Mizuki and Iruka.

The two of you listened to Iruka and Mizuki's exchange and you looked at Naruto as he realized that you were right Iruka cared a lot. that's when you both nodded and commenced an ambush. All at once the two of you kneed Mizuki sending him flying far.

Mizuki couldn't believe the force between the two of you, the two of you were just academy brats! "Now the two of you are just annoying!"

Glaring harshly, power welled up inside of you with hot anger. You held up both hands and created a triangle with your index and thumb finger, gazing a single [color] eye through it. Then, the word simple flowed out naturally.

" _Pierce._ "

The air grew freezing cold as you could feel your chakra take shape and when it was too much you and Naruto watched as four fully-formed icicles shoot off and nailing Mizuki to a tree. The rogue felt his body freeze up and he actually felt slightly terrified. Mizuki stared at you, hands still information with one eye gold and the other [color]. He hadn't been warned of this... who... who the hell are you?

"Touch my sensei again, and I'll kill you," Naruto growled out, as his hands took shape. In the next second what looked like hundred of Naruto appeared - the result of the multi shadow clone jutsu! "Take this!"

Though... Mizuki _was_ immobile, that didn't mean Naruto or his clones were going to let up. By the time each clone was finished with Mizuki he was just a bloody pulp and Naruto seemed proud of himself.

You felt extremely tired, but you were watching the icicles quickly begin to melt. You could sense your chakra inside of them dissipate from their 'mission accomplish'. You turned to Naruto and wrapped an arm around him. 

"Naruto, you just did an advanced jutsu! You probably created a hundred clones!"

The blond blushed vividly as Iruka looked at the two of you. Naruto using advanced level ninjutsu and you... whether that was a hiden jutsu or not, you were a force to be reckoned with.

"Hey Naruto, close your eyes." 

Naruto gave Iruka an odd look and you shrugged, the blond closed his eyes. You smiled watching Iruka take off his headband before securing it on Naruto.

When he opened his eyes, Naruto had such a look on his face. "Really! I'm a ninja?!" 

Iruka laughed and nodded his head. "You deserve it Naruto. You too [Name], I just don't have an extra."

You shrugged your shoulders and nodded. "I get it, I understand." You smiled but became confused when Naruto took it off.

"You deserve it too [Name], without you I don't know what I would've done." You stared at Naruto, unsure but felt butterflies. Hesitantly you took the headband before putting it on.

The blond blushed to see you wearing the Konoha headband and grinned wickedly. "We're going to be the best the entire village, believe it!"

Yeah, you believe it alright.


End file.
